Ben(juh)

This week I got a sinus infection after having a cold for about a week
so that has not been fun. I've been the only one who got it which is
kind of weird.

That reminds me of an experience I forgot to mention last week. I
starting coming down with a sore throat on the Tuesday of the Arditti
week. My recoding session was Wednesday morning and by Tuesday night
I had a nasty runny nose, was sneezing incessantly and my mind was in
a sick-cloud. Dayquil and anti-histamines weren't even denting this
cold which was rapidly worsening. Needless to say I couldn't sleep
much that night so I spent the better part of it lying awake praying
that I would be able to make it though the recording session that I
had been preparing for for over a year. I finally drifted off in the
wee hours of the morning and then slept in a bit. When I got up, my
sinuses had cleared, my throat was not sore, I was not sneezing and my
mind was clear. I was able to enjoy and benefit from the session to
the utmost a fact which I attribute to my faith in Christ and his
healing power and for which I am humbly grateful. It was a miracle
(no mountians were moved and no one was raised from the dead but I
feel that it was a genuine miracle and it did not seem like a minor
one to me at the time (since a mountain moving seemed about as
unlikely as my getting better in time)).

I was not completely healed in an instant, however, and later as the
mucus thickened and settled in my sinuses, I came down with the
aforementioned infection. Far from this challenging my faith, I
attribute this fact to the mercy of God in allowing me to experience
trials that cause me to learn patience and provide me with the frame
of reference necessary to enjoy the good in life. But when I was
really in need and had no way to solve my own problem He mercifully
granted me an opportunity to exercise my faith and receive His
promised blessings for doing so: "Behold, I say unto you that whoso
believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the
Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise
is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth."

Mormon 9: 21