The vision in her right eye: 20/20. The vision in her left eye: 20/25
The ophthalmologist called it "highly unusual."His assistant called it "weird."
Her parents called it a minor miracle, a direct result of a priesthood blessing given nearly 10 years earlier.
Since the time she was 2, Marie had bad vision. She was extremely farsighted and had amblyopia, or lazy eye, that required putting a patch on the right side of her inordinately thick glasses.
The patched glasses, she thought, made her ugly. But, at least she could see.
With the right eye patched, the left eye was forced to work harder - to overcome its laziness, as it were. And, as is common with many youngsters, the treatment was effective.
But Marie's extreme farsightedness required that she still wear the thick eyeglasses.
Sometimes, farsightedness in young people will correct itself just a bit as the child grows. So some improvement in Marie's vision could be expected.
"But not this drastic of a change," Marie's ophthalmologist would later say. "You just don't see a drastic change like this. It's very, very unusual."
Marie was still wearing the "ugly" glasses - minus the patch - when she turned 8. "Ugly," of course, was Marie's word. Her parents knew that, while cumbersome, the glasses were neither ugly by themselves nor did they make Marie ugly. But Marie didn't necessarily share her parents' belief. The three did share, however, deep gratitude for Marie's vision, knowing that many others are far worse off.
Following Marie's baptism, her father confirmed her a member of the Church, gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost and conferred a priesthood blessing.
"Though it was nearly 10 years ago, I remember Marie's confirmation blessing so well," Marie's father said. "I had not even been thinking about her vision. I was accustomed to her wearing glasses and really hadn't given much thought to how well she could see.
"And, to be honest, I didn't know if she was nearsighted or farsighted or, for that matter, what those things even meant. I'd always had good vision, had never worn glasses and really didn't pay much attention to it.
"But as I gave the blessing, a strong and distinct impression came clearly into my mind that I should bless her that her vision would improve. It just came out of the blue. There was no premeditation or advance thought. It was just suddenly there.
"Thankfully, I had presence of mind to follow the prompting, and so blessed her."
The blessing wasn't lost on Marie's mother.
"It took me off guard," she said, "because it was so specific. It was like (Marie's father) had finished the blessing, then almost as an afterthought he blessed her eyes."
Eight years later, when Marie was about to get her drivers license, her vision appeared worse. Her contact lens didn't seem to help. A visit to the ophthalmologist provided the answer: Yes, she would need a different prescription on her contact lenses because her vision had changed. It had improved.
Two years later, the same thing happened. She couldn't see well with her contact lenses in. An eye test showed that her vision had improved again - to nearly normal. In fact, the doctor suggested that she no longer needed the vision-correcting contact lenses.
To the centurion in Capernaum who asked the Savior to heal his servant, Jesus said, "I will come and heal him." And when two blind men asked mercy of the Savior, He in turn asked if they believed He was able to do that which they wanted. When they affirmed their belief, He restored their vision, saying "according to your faith, be it unto you." (See Matt. 8:5-7 and Matt. 9:27-28.)
In our dispensation, the Lord has said He will "speak unto you with my voice, even the voice of my Spirit" and that "the still small voice . . . whispereth through and pierceth all things." (See D&C 97:1 and D&C 85-6.)
Though Jesus is not now here to personally heal those in need, He continues to speak directly and clearly through His Spirit. As when we listen to His voice and use His priesthood as He directs, the healing He displayed in the meridian of time continues.
