Comfort in Times of Distress and Grief

The day Jake was born was one of the best days I ever had.  The day after was not.  That is the day that we discovered Jake had a heart defect and he was flown up to Primary Children's Hospital for diagnosis.  Later that night some of our family and friends were gathered in my room at our local hospital to hear what was wrong, and what the plan was to fix it.  Jake had two heart defects that are not usually seen together.  Open heart surgery was necessary to save his life and would be done as soon as possible.

It was so nice to have the support of family and friends who ran over, desiring to help, as soon as they could.  Eventually though, everyone needed to go home including Derek.  Jake's older siblings needed comfort, and I was recovering from surgery and needed rest.  The trick would be, how to get to sleep with all of the events of the day and all of the worries for Jake running through my mind.  I turned off the lights, but was unable to sleep.  I decided that I would try to distract myself by reading a novel.  But, I couldn't concentrate on the novel.  I had also brought my scriptures.  I pulled them out, and I started reading in the New Testament.  I was comforted, and was able to sleep for a little while.


A couple of hours later I was awake and worrying again.  Once more I tried the novel with the same lack of success.  Again, I opened the New Testament and found comfort, and was able to sleep.  Hospitals are noisy, and it was hard to stay asleep, so a couple of hours later, I woke up again.  This time I was smarter and started with the scriptures.  Every time during the night that I woke up, I was able to find peace in the scriptures and sleep again, getting much needed rest.

I have often thought about my experience that night.  Because of it I have a knowledge that the scriptures, particularly the words of our Savior, can bring peace and comfort in times of distress, and grief.  The next few days were hard, but Jake had talented heart surgeons.  His open heart surgery was very successful and he amazed his doctors with his speedy recovery.  I am thankful that Jake came home, and that during the hard, scary time before I knew he would be okay, I was comforted when I turned to the scriptures and the words of our Savior.