Priesthood vs. pills

Brian Joseph Rogers

Cedar City, Utah

12/2010

For the weeks preceding finals, I was under heavy stress. Worried about passing classes, mounting homework, work becoming more difficult, and no rest for the weary as a father of two children.

My days consisted of waking at 6:30 if not earlier, quickly readying myself for the day and hopefully into work before 7:15. I would put in a few hours before my classes began, have an hour break in between them for some small homework to be done or if I had time and remembered food to eat. I would usually just have a soda with caffeine to keep me awake.

After classes were done, I would work for an additional few hours before going home.

Upon coming home, I would be greeted by two exuberant little girls who wanted nothing more than to play. My afternoon was spent giving my wife a break from the children to do tasks she could not complete while tending to our children. Then my wife and I would get dinner made, bathe the children, and then begin the task of putting them to bed. On those nights when mercy was ours, it took little effort. Most nights, however, it took an effort to calm them down. We would read them stories, cradle them, rock them, sing to them, and put them in bed. Then we gave ourselves a little time to relax. By this time we still needed to clean the apartment, do the dishes, and I still had homework to do. Some nights I would not get to sleep until very late.

As finals drew near, my diet began to be nothing for breakfast or lunch, my sleep was less restful, and my stress increased. The day of my last final, I decided to work for a few hours before heading home. After I got home, I became very ill and had a fever. I was vomiting anything I ate, felt horrible and cold yet my temperature was 103. This persisted through until Monday when I was able to see a doctor. He told me I had Pneumonia, prescribed antibiotics and a cough syrup with Codeine. I began taking them immediately as we could not reach our home teachers for a blessing. There was little to no relief, I continued to be sick and prayed for help.

Finally, the next day my neighbours were available and agreed to come over to give me a blessing that I desired. When they arrived, I told them I wanted to limit contact with them knowing they have small children at home. The blessing felt very general, did not overwhelm me or provide any supernatural feelings. About 20 minutes after they left, as I lay in bed, I realized all my nausea had subsided, my aches had dulled, my headache gone, and no fever gripped me.

Powerful medicines that were given to me with the promise of help did nothing, two men with oil and a sacred power relieved more in far less time than any other in this world could.