EMP Mormon Journal - by Adele Friswell

I ended my call to the health advice line and started crying. The nurse who took my call insisted that my baby was fine, but I knew she wasn’t. “They think I’m being ridiculous! I know this isn’t normal, something is wrong!” I sobbed to my husband as he held our screaming baby. Each evening John was faced with a similar scenario - Gwenevere (Gwen) crying in pain and me crying in frustration and distress. Every day our baby daughter would become more and more distressed as the day went on; in the evenings she struggled to feed and would scream, cry and writhe seemingly forever before falling asleep for only short periods of time.

The previous night John had given Gwen a Priesthood blessing that reassured us of Heavenly Father’s love for and interest in Gwen and said that she would be calm and that her body would be well and function normally. She had been calm that evening, but the problem had returned. I asked John if he would give Gwen another blessing. I couldn’t understand why the first blessing hadn’t cured our baby. I had faith, didn’t I?  He explained that he couldn’t keep giving her blessings for the same thing, and reminded me that the Lord would bless us with a solution once we had done everything in our power. I started crying harder – I wanted my baby to be better NOW and I didn’t know what else to do, my phone call to the health advice line was another dead end.

Later that week I met with my new employer. I had begun working from home a few hours a week doing marketing and systems tasks for a baby sleep and feeding expert. I felt like a fraud working with a baby professional when my own parenting experience was going so badly. When she asked how my baby was I was tempted to tell her that everything was fine. John’s words that we would be blessed after doing everything we could came to mind, and I remembered the many prayers I had said pleading for help. This was my chance, if I could be humble enough to just ask. Of course Heavenly Father knew I had access to her expertise… and that I was too embarrassed to talk to her about what I perceived was my failing as a parent. I answered her question honestly, explaining how difficult things were and outlining why I thought something was wrong with Gwen. She listened kindly and asked a few questions before she said it sounded like food intolerance and would I consider making some changes to my diet?

Since that conversation about food intolerances the Lord has indeed blessed us with a thousand small miracles that have made our path to a solution simple and speedy. My employer helped me to take several common irritants out of my diet, and Gwen improved immediately. Then she referred us to a Paediatric Dietician when it became clear that we needed more specialised help to figure out the last few issues. Usually there is a several month wait for appointments, but we secured a cancellation spot the next week. A friend lent me her car to get to the appointment. Afterwards two different friends I hadn’t seen for months made contact with me and just happened to have exactly the resources I needed to remove allergens from Gwen’s environment and stick to the strict elimination diet that has cured almost all of her symptoms.

Gwen is happy and almost completely well now.  I know that as I continue to do everything I can to care for our daughter and to stay close to the Lord we will continue to be richly blessed. 

By Adelle Friswell

Adelle was born into the Church and has been married for six years to her husband, John.  They live in Springward Ward with their beautiful young daughter, Gwen, where Adelle and John are currently serving as the Faith in God leaders.  Adelle's past callings include Nursery Leader and Public Affairs.  She graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree with Honours, and is now taking extended maternity leave. Her interests include paper craft and baking.  Adelle believes in being politically aware, and in being pro-active with health, and describes herself as creative, intelligent, married and a mother.

(By S.Munro)