Healing and Faith

I was reviewing October Conference talks, since I'll miss church today, and stumbled across this speech given by Elder Dallan H. Oaks. It has given me much food for thought and I invite everyone to watch it.



Here's a few things that stuck out to me:

First, I realized I needed to repent for having three blessings! The following quote opened my eyes tremendously:

"President Kimball even suggested that 'too frequent administrations may be an indication of lack of faith or of the ill one trying to pass the responsibility for faith development to the elders rather than self.' He told about a faithful sister who received a priesthood blessing. When asked the next day if she wished to be administered to again, she replied: 'No, I have been anointed and administered to. The
ordinance has been performed. It is up to me now to claim my blessing through my faith.'"

The next thing that stuck out to me was this:

Priesthood blessings for the healing of the sick have 5 parts:
1) The Anointing
2) The Sealing of the Anointing
3) Faith of the person being blessed
4) The words spoken by the Priesthood bearer
5) The Will of the Lord

But then Elder Oaks emphasized that whatever happens in step number 4 really doesn't matter. The results of the blessing lay in only steps 1, 2, 3, and 5.

My ears were especially perked up for the third step since the biggest question in my head these long days on bed rest is: can/should I have faith in a healthy delivery of this child or should I focus rather on the fact that I don't know what the will of the Lord is and therefore simply accept whatever happens? If I don't have faith (or trust) that the Lord WILL keep me pregnant for at least seven more weeks--although I would never doubt that He CAN--will I miss out on a blessing I could have otherwise received?

I still have an educated guess for the answer to my questions, complete with supporting evidence; but I suppose only time will tell for sure.


Natalie