Are There Any Sick Among You? James 5:14

 For this post, I have a guest writer, my daughter, Jodi Harris Brimhall. It is taken from a talk she gave in her congregation in Red Rock Arizona, June 19th, 2016.

"Are there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with the oil in the name of the Lord."

James 5:14

I was asked to speak to you today about the Priesthood. When I think of the Priesthood, I first think about my Father in Heaven, and how He loves us all so much, and wants to help us through our journey here on Earth. Heavenly Father allows men to hold His Priesthood power, and all men, women, and children are able to receive the blessings from it. This Priesthood power allows us to be baptized, confirmed, receive our temple endowments, and be sealed as families. We are also able to take the Sacrament every week, just as we did earlier today, because of the power of the priesthood.

     I also think about the many times in my life I have asked for priesthood blessings, and the comfort they have given me, or the miracles that have happened because of those blessings. I want to share a few stories with you about those priesthood blessings.

     I’ll start with a story about my husband. When Rick was a young kid his parents noticed he had a lazy eye. They took him to the eye doctor and the doctor told them that they had caught it way too late and it was too severe for any treatment to be effective. Normally they would try to treat it by putting an eye patch over the good, healthy, eye, which would then force the bad eye to have to work harder. His mom insisted that they at least try it. The doctor said they could try it, but assured her it wouldn't help. They gave him the eye patch, which he wore for several months. His dad gave him a blessing and in that blessing he blessed him that his lazy eye would correct itself. It slowly got better, and by the time he went back to the doctor nearly a year later it was completely healed. The doctor told his parents that he had never seen an eye that bad, on a child that age, correct itself, and he said it was a complete miracle.

     When I was 5 years old I got an infection, which then caused my kidneys to fail. I had to be up at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake and I wasn't getting better. I was in the hospital for about a week and my kidneys were getting worse. I asked my dad if he would give me a blessing. He found another priesthood holder in the hospital, and they were able to give me a blessing.

     I don't remember a lot from this experience because I was so young but I do remember they had to draw my blood several times a day to see how my kidneys were functioning. After I received the blessing from my dad, they drew my blood and my numbers started to improve immediately. I was released from the hospital days later, having made a full recovery, and I have not had a problem with my kidneys ever since. One other thing I remember from my hospital stay was on the day I was checking out I could see the nurses station from my room, and there were 2 nurses standing there talking about me. I heard one of them say that it was a miracle that I recovered completely and so quickly, and they couldn’t believe I was well enough to go home. The healing process only began after my priesthood blessing.

     During my time in the hospital, there was one day where my parents took me into a small room where other sick children and their families were gathered together. I wasn’t sure why we were there until I heard a familiar prayer start, and I looked up to see a few men blessing the sacrament. We were too sick to be home, taking the Sacrament in church, so these wonderful Priesthood holders brought the blessing of the sacrament to us.

     Rick is the priesthood holder in our home, but he is gone a lot for his job. Last year Rick was working in Nebraska for 3 months and our son was having terrible night terrors every night that would take him hours to snap out of. I felt helpless as everything I tried to do to help my son didn't work, and I grew exhausted as I was unable to sleep at night, and had no husband there to help me. I reached out to our Home Teacher Scott Allred, and he and Brad Rasmussen were able to come give Logan a blessing. The night terrors became shorter each night, until they stopped completely, and we were all able to get the sleep we needed. The priesthood is not available only to those who have worthy father’s or worthy husbands. Anywhere you go, you can find priesthood holders to help you, and this has been a huge blessing in my life.

     In preparation for this talk I have been thinking a lot about the men in my life who hold the priesthood and as today is Father's Day I've been thinking a lot about my Dad.  Two weeks ago my dad suffered a heart attack. Miraculously he is doing okay and is recovering well. My dad is the rough and tough cowboy type. He grew up working on a farm and he started working when he was 8 years old. 
     While I was growing up, I can't ever remember a time in my life when my dad sat with my family on Sunday's. He was in the bishopric, then he was the bishop, then he was in the stake presidency. He was always up on the stand, watching over the people he served. I remember nights when the phone would ring and he would rush off in the middle of the night to help someone in the ward who was in a crisis. My dad is always the first person to offer help and the last person to ask for it - to a fault. When he had his heart attack he was home alone, and really didn't want to bother the neighbors or home teachers, so he thought it would be a good idea to drive himself to the hospital. 
     The hospital parking lot was under construction when he got there, so he had to park a few blocks away, and then hobble himself into the hospital in excruciating pain. Nearly 2 hours later, after he had been admitted to the ICU, given medication, and received test results that confirmed his heart attack, he decided he should let his family know where he was and he did so by sending my mom a text that said "I had a heart attack, I will be spending the night at the hospital.” My mom frantically rushed to the hospital to be with him. After she got there, it was around 10pm, and she called both of my brothers, who live in Utah. My brothers left immediately to go to the hospital. When my mom told my dad that my brothers were coming he said, “Good, I need them to give me a blessing.”

     The next morning I was able to talk to him. I called my dad on FaceTime so I could see him. He was laying in a hospital bed hooked up to IVs and heart monitors, and wearing very tired eyes. I asked him why he didn't call anyone or at least call my mom to tell her he was at the hospital and he said, "well she was in a movie and I didn’t want to bother her." After assuring me he was fine he asked "hey Jodi, how's your car running?" We have been having problems with one of our cars recently and that's what he was currently worried about, apparently.

     This whole experience with my dad has opened my eyes to 2 things. The first, my dad is not as smart as I thought he was. My siblings and I have since reminded him that he needs to let people help him, and that 911 exists for a reason.

The second, and most important thing I have learned is how seriously and reverently my dad treats the Power of the Priesthood. Throughout this entire experience, the only time my dad ever asked for anything, was to ask for a priesthood blessing. This speaks volumes to me, and has shown me that if my dad won’t ask for help getting to a hospital while he’s having a heart attack, but will ask for a priesthood blessing to recover, there are few things in this life as precious and necessary as the power of the priesthood.

     Priesthood blessings can come to you no matter your circumstances, and I know that everyone here has different relationships with their Father's and the men in their life, and the priesthood holders in their life. I also know that for some people Father's Day can be a day of hurt, for various reasons, but one thing that is the same for all of us is our Eternal Father, and the love that he has for each of us. He is our true Father, and he loves us so much that he has given us his priesthood power on the earth to help us and to heal us.

     Elder Ballard taught, “ Our Father in Heaven is generous with His power. All men and all women have access to this power for help in our own lives. All who have made sacred covenants with the Lord and who honor those covenants are eligible to receive personal revelation, to be blessed by the ministering of angels, and to commune with God.”

     I know that our Heavenly Father loves us, and wants us all to have access to the blessings of the Priesthood. I have a testimony of the Power of the Priesthood, and have seen it work miracles in my life.