by Dr. Mark Edmond Rampton
I have memories of countless stories about healings while growing up. I heard these stories in Sacrament Meetings, Sunday School and Primary classes, Priesthood quorums, and General Conference. I have read them in the scriptures, church magazines and books. In most cases, these stories were related to substantiate the message that “faith can move mountains” and “prayers are answered”. The ninth chapter of Mark includes a moving account of Christ’s healing of a young boy who was blind, deaf, and with seizures. Christ healed him in an instant and used this opportunity to teach us of the relationship between faith and miracles.
As an adult who has spent my last 26 years as a physician, I still believe that God hears and answers our prayers, and that He, in some cases, changes the natural course of diseases by healing us. Of course, I am more skeptical now than as a child. As a man of faith and science, I find myself trusting in God’s hand to heal the sick, and at the same time, a little unsure about some testimonials about miraculous healings. I struggle when hearing simple answers to complex questions. I hope that my doubting can be limited to doubtful things, and not apply to God’s marvelous works.
Are Miracles An Exception to Natural Laws?
I do believe in physical miracles, where the power of God causes the laws of nature to be superceded. When Christ caused the skin of the leper to instantaneously be rid of the mycobacterium tuberculosis microorganisms, and heal in an instant to normal skin, that was a miracle. And I believe in the more frequent psychological and spiritual miracles, where human nature, filled with fear and jealousy and anger and selfishness, suddenly gives way to a sense of peace and harmony. And I believe in the great potential of the human will, which is sometimes called a “miracle” when a man or woman overcomes major adversity, emerging stronger that before.
It is doubtful that we will ever know for sure how to tell the difference between natural healing and miraculous healing. It is possible that there is not line between the two, and that all healing is on a continuum, with the slow cellular processes on one end, and the instant process on the other. Certainly the healing of the leper is at one extreme, and the usual process of wound mending on the other. It is possible that God sees all these processes as similar. Bruce R. McConkie spoke about these different healing processes:
Every miracle is unique; no two are alike. Two blind men have their eyes opened by divine power, and each wondrous deed is as different from the other as are the two recipients of the heaven-sent goodness. Those few of Jesus’ miracles which are recorded in any sort of detail were selected from the many by the spirit of inspiration; such accounts preserve for us patterns and types of miraculous acts, with a view to encouraging us – whatever our disabled or diseased condition may be – to ourselves rely on Him by whose power miracles are wrought, and to seek to gain an outpouring of His goodness and grace in our own lives.
Further, all healings do not happen instantaneously; the prophetic fingers do not always snap and cause the prostrate sufferer to leap from his pallet as though by magic. A sightless one may be sent to wash the spittle and clay from his eyes in the pool of Siloam; a leper may be requited to immerse seven times in Jordan; a suffering soul may be tested to the full before hearing the blessed words: “Be it unto thee according to thy faith.” It is no less a miracle when shattered bones weld themselves together gradually than when they reform in an instant. A withered arm that attains it proper and perfect frame through a growth process may be an exhibition of as great a miracle as one that bursts suddenly into being. (The Mortal Messiah, 3:28)
Whether the recovery is gradual or instantaneous, I suspect that it occurs in accordance with laws that have originated from God. In this sense, the true laws of science and nature are laws of God, and miracles happen in accordance with these laws.
Modern science has come to understand much of the processes of healing, on a molecular and cellular level. An injury or an infection is quickly recognized as a threat to the overall well-being of the organism, and a large number of defense mechanisms are called into action – specialized cells are summoned to migrate to the site of injury to battle the infection, other cells arrive to lay down new structural cells, and a myriad of chemicals are released into the blood stream to thwart the invaders. Yet, there are real differences in the abilities of different people to “get well”. There is now scientific evidence that people who have a strong sense of purpose in their lives have a better chance of survival from serious illnesses. How does this work? Is it possible that our minds can actually increase our immunity and recovery? These forces that inhibit or promote these curative processes are not well understood by science. But there is no doubt that people who believe that they will get well, are more likely to do so than those who harbor thoughts of gloom and doom. Even the placebo effect is measurable by scientific methods. Placebos actually work quite well, because they increase the patient’s own confidence in the processes of natural healing, perhaps stimulating the immune system’s own inborn apothecary.
Norman Cousins, in his best seller, “Anatomy of An Illness”, speaks about these “mind over matter” forces. He describes a link that has been discovered between creativity and longevity. Apparently, the body fights aging and various diseases better when the mind is programmed with a definite purpose for tomorrow. Cousins describes a variety of examples of this phenomenon: musicians, like Don Pablo Casals, who continued to perform beyond age 80; crossword puzzlers who keep at it into their 80’s and 90’s; retirees who become involved in new challenging pursuits – all these, and many more, are living evidence of a link between positive emotions and cellular maintenance. He also goes into great detail about the proven benefit of laughter and mirth in promoting healing.
Prayer and Priesthood Blessings
Do we have any ideas on how the Lord heals his children? When God heals us, does he use our natural processes of healing, or does he cause something to happen akin to changing water to wine?
Sometimes one of my Latter-day Saint obstetric patients will ask for a priesthood blessing as she begins the process of labor. And I have seen other believing patients offer prayers during these difficult times. I feel that genuine benefits that come from these blessings and prayers, including:
- an increase in the confidence of the patient or the couple, allowing them to work with labor positively, and thus requiring less anesthesia;- an increase in my awareness of her faith, and therefore a deepening of my sense of caring for her well-being;- an improved physiologic response to the process of labor, including uterine contractility, placental and umbilical cord blood flow, improved fetal tolerance to the stress of labor, and a better hemostatic mechanism to limit bleeding after delivery.
I believe that there are numerous processes through which the Lord blesses and “heals” us. Occasionally, it will be a “miracle” where something happens above and beyond the body’s own processes. In most cases, the blessings occur via the natural events, but are enhanced or accelerated. I see the faith of the individual acting as a catalyst in the cascade of processes that must occur for repair of the injury, or for the containment and removal of the infection, or for the arrest of the malignant process. And, finally, the Lord blesses and heals us by giving us spiritual and emotional strength as we go through disappointments and diseases, which has measurable positive effects on the processes of recovery.
The Sacrament As A Time for Healing
Latter-day Saints have a time set aside each week, during which we can receive healing from the wounds to our spirits that occur as a result of our less-than-perfect lives. Elder Marvin J Ballard spoke of this time for recovery: “Who is there among us that does not wound his spirit by word, thought, or deed, from Sabbath to Sabbath? We do things for which we are sorry and desire to be forgiven. If there is a feeling in our hearts that we are sorry for what we have done, …that we would like to be forgiven, …repair to the sacrament table where, if we have sincerely repented and put ourselves in proper condition, we shall be forgiven, and spiritual healing will come to our souls. I am a witness that there is a spirit attending the administration of the sacrament that warms the soul from head to foot; you feel the wounds of the spirit being healed, and the load is lifted.”
Is the source of our healing closer than we realize? Do we often look beyond the mark for a solution to our pain? The ordinance of the sacrament is available to us over and over again as a time to mend, forgive, heal, renew, and become whole. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland offered some remarkable words on the power of the sacrament in his remarks during the 1995 General Conference, “With so very much at stake, this ordinance commemorating our escape from the angel of darkness should be taken more seriously than it sometimes is. It should be a powerful, reverent, reflective moment. It should encourage spiritual feelings and impressions. As such it should not be rushed. It is not something to ‘get over’ so that the real purpose of a sacrament meeting can be pursued. This is the real purpose of the meeting.” Perhaps the door to healing will open wider when we honor the purpose of the sacramental ordinance.
Healing the Illness, or Healing the Broken Heart?
My fifth child was Lora Dorothea. She was such a delightful baby; beautiful, quick to learn, responsive, and happy. When she was 14 months old, my wife, Alice, noticed one day while holding her that she had a tender mass in her abdomen. Within a few days Lora underwent surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, which confirmed the diagnosis of neuroblastoma, a highly malignant tumor arising from the adrenal gland. She was started on a regimen of chemotherapy, but her tumor grew in spite of the attempts to treat it. A second surgery was done at Denver Children’s Hospital, but she grew progressively ill and weak. She died at home in my wife’s arms in the early morning hours of January 9, 1986 after 20 months on earth.
Lora had many priesthood blessings during her illness; starting on the day that Alice felt the mass. Our family and individual prayers in late 1984 were always focused on Lora. We prayed for guidance as we decided on which medical center to consult for help. We called pediatric oncologists in Memphis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Denver, and even Hong Kong and Netherlands. I spent long evening hours in the medical library reading everything I could find written on neuroblastoma.
During Lora’s illness, I frequently found myself in a daydream state, thinking about why things happen the way they do. I asked the standard question “Why Lora?” and even wondered if I was being punished. And I was always face to face with the issue of why she had not been healed in an instant when I had laid my hands on her head and blessed her. I questioned my personal worthiness. Would she be healed if I were more faithful? Would fasting make my prayers for her more effective? My father, whom I have always considered to be the ultimate priesthood holder, had laid his hands on Lora and blessed her. Still, her disease marched on. And I listened to opinions of others. Some said that Lora’s time on earth was to be short, because she had completed her life’s mission. Some said that the cancer was here to teach us something. Some said that she was too good and not in need of life’s testing period.
The one thing in common about all these ideas was that they made me feel uneasy. Was Lora’s illness my fault, because I hadn’t learned some lesson, and now needed to be shaken up? I was her father, and a physician. Why didn’t I find the mass at an earlier date, making the chance for recovery better? Did my whole family need Lora to suffer so that we could gain some new level of understanding? Certainly, Lora did nothing wrong. She didn’t “deserve” to have this disease.
After her death, our family grieved the giant loss. But gradually, the agony diminished, and the Comforter prevailed. Each member of the family had reacted to Lora’s illness and death in different ways. My children had all become more sensitive to the feelings of others, and sometimes they would want to talk about Lora and remember all they could about her. Over time, we all were blessed with a “miracle” – a reassurance that our family was going to be O.K. I found help in the words of others, such as ancient and latter-day prophets, who testified about the resurrection and the eternal family. I read “When Bad Things Happen To Good People” by Rabbi Harold Kushner, which helped me to see Lora’s illness as an event that was not linked to God’s judgment of me. I came to realize that my Heavenly Father had a timetable and a larger plan that was beyond my understanding. And I began to see Lora’s cancer and death as a direct result of the random formation of a single neuroblastoma cell during the formation of Lora’s adrenal gland. Nothing more. The chance of this happening to anyone is low, but there is a random chance for all. God’s active role was to create this world as an excellent testing site, to provide us with bodies and spirits that might bring us through this life, and then step back, and offer strength as needed. I believe that God may weep and cringe with us when our children die, because he understands our pain. But he also knows that we will grow through adversity.
All Healing is a Miracle
I have come to see all healing as a miracle. The gradual mending, the regaining of strength, the living through suffering, and when people can have confidence in themselves after years of emotional abuse: these are all miracles. I even feel that the frequency of miracles in our lives is dependent on our outlook. If we see all good things as gifts from benevolent Heavenly Parents, then we will be blessed with miracles each day. On the contrary, if we see life as oppressive, we will miss the miracles. I am thankful for the workings of Christ in my life, and for the teaching that he has provided for me, allowing me to believe in miraculous healing.