Sunday, November 6, 2011

another post about faith

This is going to be the long version of the story (just so you know):
The past few weeks I've been sick like a lot of people. I was feeling better but then I couldn't hear in my right ear. It felt like I had water in my ear from swimming. I thought it was probably an ear infection so I went to urgent care to have it looked at. The PA said it was and like most doctors who have looked in my ears said, "Wow. you have quite a bit of scar tissue on your ear drum. Did you have tubes as a kid?" YES. I have a long list of ear issues including several sets of tubes, ruptured ear drum, and not the best hearing in the world because of these things. See, looonng story.
Sidenote: It's kinda like when I go to get my hair cut or dyed, the person without fail says something to the effect of, "Wow. You have soo much hair. It's so thick." And without fail, I give a token laugh and think to myself "Really? I have thick hair? Yeah, hair lady I do. Thanks for noticing; you're not the first." Everyone has physical traits and one of mine is my hair. It usually attracts attention--sometimes good and sometimes bad. At least I don't get attention for my boobs or a huge wart on my nose.
Alright, back to the story. The PA prescribed antibiotics. I thought that would for sure kill any bacteria left over from my cold or the whole ear infection thing. But it hasn't. My hearing seems worse. Instead of feeling like I have water in my hear it feels like whatever it is has solidified. The ear seems totally occluded (I think that's the word I'm looking for). And it feels like I'm talking in an echoing tunnel (it's hard to explain). So now I'm worried. Tonight is my last night of antibiotics. I'm feeling totally better, except for this ear thing. Yes this post is about faith like the title mentioned....I'm slowly getting there.
I've know for a week that Jeffrey R. Holland was coming to our Stake Conference to speak. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ, for those who may not know. Yesterday I asked Jeff, "Is it totally ridiculous that I might think that Elder Holland might feel the spirit and know that I want a healing blessing from him and that he'll give me one???" Jeff, being very honest said, "YES." My response was, "but anything can happen if I have enough faith, and I believe that can happen. I don't know how, but if I have faith he can give me a blessing." I was thinking of the story (and I don't know the story all that well so forgive me) the women who had sinned and had faith that if she just touched Christ her sins would be forgiven. Jesus felt her gentle touch and said something to the effect of your sins are forgiven. Go thy way and sin no more. In stake conference this morning the stake president talked about that faith can move mountains and again I thought about wanting and hoping for a healing blessing. Elder Holland began to speak and I had forgotten about my wants and desires at this point; I was all ears, or at least one ear (my left one that is good). He was closing up his talk and out of nowhere he said, "I know there is a particular person who wants a blessing, or maybe more than one person and so I want to leave a blessing on each person here: man, woman, and child." His blessing was about 10 minutes long. He said that in ancient times Christ would leave a blessing on everyone who was there because there were just too many people to give blessings to individually. I didn't know that, so that was cool to learn. He mentioned many things, specifically to mothers, fathers, and children. He blessed those who needed healing as well. Jeff and I looked at each other and stared in amazement. I didn't know how it would happen, but it did. I'm again grateful for a merciful Father in Heaven who knows who we are, who I am, and blesses us as we demonstrate our faith and express our righteous desires. I know that the prophet, Pres. Monson, and his apostles are disciples of Christ and are set apart to bless us, teach us, and love us. My faith grew stronger today and was worth writing this long story down. I still am unable to hear out of my right ear. Tonight is my last antibiotic I need to take and then depending how my ear is tomorrow, I may be making an appt. with an ENT.

4 comments:

Rachel Schanz said...

lauren, thank you for this story. That blessing was such an awesome experience!

Amy said...

beautiful story. i too, know that faith can move mountains. glad you recorded that:)

Anonymous said...

It blessed your mother's heart to hear of your faith and I was touched by the incredible answer to your prayer. Thank you for sharing.

Amy said...

heard there was a big storm in Alaska and wanted to check on you:)
By the way, in my last comment, I didn't really write about how amazing that really was. Truly that was a remarkable answer to your prayer:)