Dear Kids,
I had a friend once tell me, "Some days, the only thing on your 'to-do' list becomes holding a sick baby."
Yesterday and today has been "that" day. Little Joshua has been teething, fever, red bum, the works. Poor thing has been super miserable. I can't put him down for a second before he just needs me to hold him again. I had to say that phrase in my head several times ... "Andrea, sometimes the only thing on your to do list becomes holding a sick baby."
I think I need to remember that with the older kids more often as well. They need me emotionally to listen to them, open my eyes and ears and truly care about every little thing they are telling me, and THAT becomes the most important thing on my to do list for the moment.
But I digress. Something that happened today with this sick little baby, something simple but profound. He hasn't slept very well, and by late afternoon was just beside himself crying because he was so tired and just miserable. I put him in his rocker to help him sleep a bit, but he just looked at me with this pain in his eyes. I tried everything I could think of up to that point to help him sleep and get some relief.
Well, then a flash came in my mind from a conversation I had with my family on Sunday. We did a call with Mimi and Papa and siblings. We got into a conversation about living with the priesthood a.k.a. the power of Christ and how we live below our privileges WAY too often. That we need to be calling on the power of Christ more often in our lives, and on a daily basis.
When I was sitting in front of him, watching him agony, I knew I needed to say a prayer. Then as soon as I started the prayer, the thought came to my mind, "Bless him in the name of Jesus Christ to sleep and get relief."
I haven't used those words specifically for a while. Every experience I have had using those exact words have been for situations of casting out devils and making evil leave my presence. I don't think I have ever really used those words in a prayer for just an everyday sickness that will eventually go away, like teething. It's funny... it's almost like the first feeling was that it was too sacred to use that phrase for something as "trivial" as this.
But as soon as the spirit told me to say that phrase, I also had a flash of Christ just standing, waiting to bless, waiting to help. That NOTHING is trivial to Him... let alone a baby that is in pain. That IS very important to Him and He wanted Joshua to feel relief. I could emotionally feel it.
So I did. I prayed, "In the name of Jesus Christ and in His power, I command you to sleep and get relief." I was crying as I said it. But the INSTANT I said those words Joshua stopped crying. By the end of the prayer he was just watching me, with spirit filled eyes. I knew he knew what I had prayed for. I knew angels came to help. I could feel them.
There was a family tonight that I needed to make dinner for and the spirit literally told me, "It is okay, go make the dinner for the family, Joshua is okay here with us to fall asleep." And so I did, I left and prepared the food. After a bit, I went back and he was sound asleep in the rocker chair and was satisfied for a while before he woke up again. And tonight he is getting back to himself again.
It was an AMAZING experience, very simple, but very profound.
In my patriarchal blessing it tells me that people will come to me and "ask for blessings at your hand for they will know that you know that Jesus is the Christ." I think today was a little bit of training involved inside of understanding what that means and can really look like when people ask for blessings at my hand, for the power of Christ in their lives.
I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life. I'm so grateful for my Savior. I love Him.
I love you,
Your Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment