By: Brenda

When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my family took a camping vacation to the redwoods. In the middle of the night I woke up to sharp pains in my abdomen and back. I tried to wait the pain out, hoping it would pass, but finally I decided to pray. In answer to my prayer I felt impressed to go to a hospital as fast as possible. I woke my husband and children and asked my husband for a Priesthood blessing. In the blessing, he asked that the Doctors and nurses would be able to correctly identify my ailment and treat me accordingly.

As we rushed to the hospital overwhelming pain overtook my body and I could feel contractions starting on the front of my belly, but the bulk of the pain resonated in my lower back. The nearest hospital was called Saint Dominic, a Catholic hospital, and it was over 12 miles away.

I was immediately admitted into Labor and Delivery because of my contractions. My body arched and dry heaved, not knowing how to rid itself of the pain. After asking me several questions about the source and type of pain I was experiencing, one nurse whispered to my husband, “I think she has a kidney stone, the contractions are just a reaction.”

After dozens of unsuccessful injections and IV attempts to stop the pain, my nurse was moved by an overwhelming compassion for me. We found ourselves alone for a moment because my husband had taken my children into to the hall to shield them from my screams.

She said, “I feel that you are a Christian.”

“Yes.”

“Can I pray over you?”

“Yes.”

Then she offered an open and heartfelt prayer to God pleading for Him to burst my yet undiagnosed kidney stone into a million pieces, that it might pass and let my body rest. She repeated her request over and over. I poured my faith in Jesus Christ into her prayer and we both said, “Amen.”

Hours later, results from my X-rays confirmed a badly swollen kidney due to a kidney stone. I was advised to get a shunt placed into my body to relieve the swelling in my kidney. After learning about the shunt I was worried and knew that I would prefer the stone to pass, as my nurse prayed for, if at all possible.

The next day, my kidney stone burst into a million pieces, without any medical treatments, as my nurse had requested.

This experience reminded me of a scripture found in the Bible.

“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matt 18:18-19

There are many differences in doctrine taught by the various Christian denominations. But this experience taught me that when two people are united in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, despite differences that may exist in doctrine, miracles can and will happen. I know God lives. I know God loves me. I know God is good. My nurse knew these things too.

I believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church, is true. I believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that prophets continue to deliver God’s word to men and women today as they did in the past. But I also believe in Christianity as a whole. I find it powerful that so many people of different ethnicities, countries of origin and religious traditions can “agree on earth” that Jesus is the Christ. In fact, because we agree or touch on that one vital truth, I believe that Jesus Christ can be in the midst of us all.

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