I've had many proofs of God's loving care in my life. As a child, I was healed of scarlet fever through prayer. My mother explained to me that our physician had no medication to cure scarlet fever. Then she assured me that everything would be all right, because we would pray together and ask God to heal me. She told me that God had never let her down when she had put her trust in Him, and that we could trust that God would see us through this, too.
So we did pray—every day for the two months I was bedridden. Although I was quite ill, those days my mother and I spent in daily holy communion with God were a sweet time. It was considered miraculous that I survived without any debilitating aftereffects. I couldn't help but realize the seriousness of my condition. But, even as a child, I had great confidence in God, and so it was easy and natural to agree with my mother that we could trust God to heal me.
Faith is a potent element, and I am so grateful to have had it to meet the need of that moment. But despite the healing, I was left with a conviction that sickness could be serious stuff, that it was something formidable to fear, and that I could become ill again through contagion at any moment.
