A Mother's touch

From left to right: Faith, Brooke, Whitney, me, and Soni at the TOFW conference. (Sorry for the blurry photo...the nice lady that took it had shaky hands!)

Children...they truly are the greatest, and these three beautiful women known as Mercy River have 13 children between them. Amazing! Add Faith and I we have 19 children between us. I have four and my dear friend Faith has two.

These three wonderful women each had insightful messages to share at the TOFW event. They each also shared a story, or spiritual experience in between their songs while testifying of the Savior. Oh, and their voices are so beautiful! They harmonize so well, and I got chills each time they sang their songs. You can tell by the way they sing that they have a love for music, and if you know our family...with two and a half musically inclined pianists in the home we sure have a lot of love for music.

Whitney Perrman shared an experience about how her toddler grabbed a hold of a hanger (not wire) and somehow punctured his little cheek with it! It was like this little person had a huge piercing except it's a hangar and not a cheek ring. She mentioned immediately taking him to the emergency room because it just wouldn't come out on its own. They were in the ER for eight hours which meant that her poor baby still had that hook in his cheek. She showed pictures of the ordeal and it looked so sad when they showed the one with the hangar in his mouth. The last photo she showed is the one that really caught my full attention.

In the photo she is laying next to his fragile body with her hand on his cheek. She said he'd cry every time she took her hand away from his cheek, and so she never let go until it was time for the doctors to remove it.

In that moment, and looking at that photo reminded me of how strong a mother's love can be. It reminded me of my Noah, and how much love I have for him. Not that Noah has ever endured that kind of pain, but when his two year molars were coming in, all he wanted was for me to hold him. He didn't want dad, he didn't want a cold compressor, he didn't want to chew on anything hard, all he wanted was me, "the mama". Looking at her photo through the big screen brought tears of joy to my eyes. I realized even more how huge my heart is in having so much love not only for my four children, but every one in that room. That room was full of mothers, and you can feel the spirit so strong as it lingered through all of those rows as she told the happy ending. The hangar was removed, and her little boy was healed.

There truly is something about a mother's touch that frees a child of pain. We have the capacity to will their pain away, and help them heal from the physical pain that they are feeling. I remember a certain memory where I slammed the car door of a Pinto on my thumb. Back then those cars were made out of steel so you could imagine the pain I must have felt. I remember the blood, the tears, and the chills I received moments after that door slammed on my thumb. I was stoic, and my mom didn't scold me. She saw what happened and immediately took me inside to get it cleaned up, and bandaged. No ER was involved, but just having my mother there at the time it occurred made it all better. Children are resilient, heal, and then go back to being that active kid again.

As a mother we grow from those experiences. We see our children hurting and we want them to know that we are there, and that we will be by their side to help ease the pain. I know that Heavenly Father helps our small children become resilient...especially in times when they are physically hurting.