I Believe in Miracles

Almost two weeks ago I had a friend of mine over at my house. She had been here for around and hour when she looked at me with fear and tears in her eyes and confided in me that her husband was being screened for cancer that day. Furthermore, while searching for a cause for some numbness he's had in his extremities, they thought they had seen a brain tumor. She just couldn't bear to keep the news to herself any longer, she had to share with someone.

Wow.

What do you say at a time like that? We discussed Priesthood blessings. I reassured her that we would be praying for them and that I would keep the confidence she had shared with me. She promised she would keep me updated as they found out more information.

After she left, I felt tied in knots. I had promised that I wouldn't tell anyone. (She didn't care if more people knew, but he didn't want to say anything until there was something to say.) Yet, I desperately felt that they needed more people praying for them. I struggled with what to do. Then I had the thought to call my mother-in-law.

My mother-in-law is truly a saint. She is one of the most generous, kind, and loving women I know. She will go out of her way to help people and she genuinely strives to be like our Savior. I told her about my friend's situation. I asked if I should keep the confidence or if I should tell our bishop so that someone else could be praying for them. She gave me the most simple and beautiful of third options.

She reminded me that in the temple that there are hundreds of patrons in dozens of sessions praying for those whose names are on the temple prayer rolls. By placing my friend and her husband on the temple prayer roll, there would be thousands of prayers offered for them over the course of the two weeks they remain on the list. By placing their names on the prayer roll, not only could I keep my promise not to tell anyone in the ward what was going on, but I could also radically increase the number of prayers on their behalf. The answer was so clear and so RIGHT.

I called every temple from Bountiful to Mount Timpanogos (Salt Lake was closed for cleaning) and put their names on the prayer roll. Then I waited and prayed.

Three days after she confided in me, my friend called me to say that the cancer screening had turned out negative. Hallelujah! One major bridge crossed. A brain tumor is still very scary stuff, but at least we knew there was no cancer in the location we had feared. Now just to wait for the results of the other test.

More prayers and waiting.

My friend called me late this afternoon. The screening for the brain tumor came back clear. Either they thought they saw a tumor and they were mistaken or the tumor has disappeared. There is no brain tumor!!!

The moment I got off the phone with my friend, I called my mother-in-law to tell her the good news.

I'm not sure what would have happened if my mother-in-law had not so sagely advised me to put their names in the temple. I do feel that her inspired counsel played a huge, positive part in the miracle that has happened for my friend and her husband.

They still don't have a cause for the symptoms my friend's husband is experiencing, which is frustrating. But, for now, there is definitely cause to rejoice. There was a strong possibility of two very serious, very scary diagnoses, and by a miracle neither of them came to pass.

I am so humbled and grateful for my Heavenly Father's love for me and my friends and for the influence of such a righteous woman in my life. I am grateful for miracles.