Nineteen years ago, our only daughter made her entrance into the world. She was a 7 lb 12 ounce delight and we were smitten. While we revelled in her perfection, my healing did not progress as anticipated. A team of doctors with varying specialties was assembled. A procedure to place a filter for a large blood clot forming right beneath my heart was recommended and the doctor who was the most skilled walked off the plane at the end of a family vacation and came straight to the hospital. Along with the blood clot, I was also bleeding internally. As healthy as I had been just days before and as much as I wanted to live, it became clear that I was unable to sustain life on my own. Like the Savior who gave His blood to redeem us, someone else’s blood was introduced into my body and it did for me what I could not do for myself, it gave me life. For the doctors and nurses who spent years and years honing their skills and for the people who sat in a chair donating blood, I may not even be a memory, but their efforts, their gifts brought relief to me and my family, sustaining my life until I could again sustain it on my own.
While my husband remained with me, my mother, who was dealing with health challenges of her own, took our newly discharged baby home for the remaining weeks I would spend in the hospital. Mom was soon joined by my eighty year old grandma who volunteered for the night shift sleeping in the same room with our daughter, rocking, feeding and talking to her when everyone else was asleep. Our young adult neighbor cared for our boys during the day, Relief Society sisters brought meals and signed up to come cuddle and nurture our baby and each night my dad slept at our house so our three boys could stay in their own beds. This army of angels, acting in similitude of our Savior, brought not only physical relief but relief to the heart of a young mother unable to care for her family.
“We ‘succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.’ ‘bear … one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.’ As we do, we come to know Him, become like Him, and find His relief.” (President Camille N. Johnson, April 2023). As we walk together, sharing the relief of Jesus Christ, we come to know His deep love for each of His children and for us.
#JesusChristisRelief
How grateful I am for you and for the army of angels who came to the rescue—most especially, for the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Thank you for sharing this refining experience and reminder of relief with us.