Getting Through

 Ella had a long week.  She had periodic bouts of nausea, vomiting, severe stomach pain and crazy bas vertigo off and on for almost a full week.  It would come in waves and was excruciating.

After three days we took her to the doctor.  At day five they sent her to the ER for fluids for dehydration and to run a whole battery of tests but they couldn't find the cause.

She couldn't dress herself or stand without help and the doctor said he was sorry but they didn't know what was wrong.

He said we would need to simply keep treating the symptoms.  And they sent her home still violently ill. 

I was physically exhausted from being up with her in the night and worried and frustrated that there didn't seem to be anything we could do to alleviate her discomfort.  That's definitely one of the hardest parts of parenthood for sure. 

George and I took turns alternating days off to stay home with her.  She is finally feeling better and is just tired.  We probably will never know for sure what it was.  

But when George was giving her a blessing he made the statement that "your parents will know how to help and comfort you."  

It was a situation where instead of us or the doctors fixing it or her being healed we just needed guidance for how to help her through it. 

I've thought about that a lot today.  

As Thomas S Monson wisely counseled, "Wherever we are in life, there are times when all of us have challenges and struggles. Although they are different for each, they are common to all.

Many of the challenges we face exist because we live in this mortal world, populated by all manner of individuals. At times we ask in desperation, “How can I keep my sights firmly fixed on the celestial as I navigate through this telestial world?”

There will be times when you will walk a path strewn with thorns and marked by struggle. There may be times when you feel detached—even isolated—from the Giver of every good gift. You worry that you walk alone. Fear replaces faith.

When you find yourself in such circumstances, I plead with you to remember prayer."

Sometimes we need to stop asking for trials to be removed and ask instead for guidance in how we can get through it.  

"Let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

That peace doesn't only exist in the absence of troubles. In fact, in our greatest difficulties is when that peace can be of the greatest value.