Comforted by a Presence

By Hannah Edwards

       I used to get strep throat just about every year as a child.  When I got it at the age of twelve, the doctor told me that my tonsils were abnormally large and would probably have to be removed someday.  I wasn’t really a fan of that thought, to be sure!

       In December of 2015, I came down with what I thought was a really bad cold.  By the next day I could no longer talk, and that night I kept waking up every fifteen minutes.  My parents decided I needed to go to urgent care in the morning.  When I got there, the doctor looked down my throat and asked again how long it had been since I had felt badly.  “Three days,” we told him.

     “This is very rare,” he said.  “Normally when people come in with this bad of a case, it’s been going on for at least two weeks and they can’t stand the pain anymore.”  He told us that my tonsils were as far apart as the end of a ballpoint pen, and that if they swelled anymore, I would suffocate.  The doctor also told me that he thought, based on the timeline of my feeling ill, that it was not strep throat, but an abscess behind my tonsils.  He sent us to the emergency room.

   On the way there, I texted several of my friends and asked for prayers.  One texted me back, quoting the lines from the song “Whom Shall I Fear” by Chris Tomlin:

“The One who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine; the God of angel armies is always by my side.”

   When Mom and I arrived at the emergency room, they looked down my throat and told me they would put me in a room as soon as they could.  They gave me a chair in the hallway while Mom went to talk to another gentleman.  I was frightened – I had never been in the hospital before.  I didn’t know what to expect, and now I couldn’t even see Mom anymore. 

    All of a sudden, I felt as though Someone were sitting next to me.  I turned and looked, but I couldn’t see anyone.  As soon as this happened, my fears were gone and I felt totally at peace. 

    When the doctors finally saw me, they decided it was just an aggravated case of strep throat, and that I would be fine.  They sent me home with instructions to rest and take my medicine. 

   Upon attending church the next Sunday, several people told me how they had been praying for me that day, and how they had even said a prayer for me at an Older Youth meeting that evening.  I felt so blessed, not just with the comfort that I had needed, but with such wonderful brothers and sisters as well.