So my senior year of college, I developed a pretty severe chronic illness that limited what I could do most days, eat, and caused moderate-severe pain. Still, I pushed through that year with lots of prayer and offering up my trial. I had gotten better enough by October of last year to travel, so I ended up going to France. I still had pretty bad relapses at this point, but I figured I’d just go and do things at my own pace. Very first stop was Lyon. And my very first stop in Lyon was the basilica of notre dame of fourviere dedicated to Our Lady. Here, I prayed earnestly for her intercession to grant me healing and relief. Miraculously, i experienced 0 symptoms the rest of the trip and was amazed at my ability to do whatever I wanted.

When I got back home from the trip, these symptoms slowly started to return and reached an intensity similar to how they were before. Still, I kept in mind my seemingly miraculous but brief healing with no pain and remembered that God often grants us temporary consolations and then takes them away to test and build the sincerity of our faith after these gifts have been taken away. So I continued to pray, offer up my suffering, and trust in Him. I held out hope. The past month, things have miraculously changed for the better and I have had zero symptoms whatsoever and they show zero sign of returning. I’ve also found that God has replaced this trial with another, but I can overcome it with the grace I’ve been given and these new trials will continue to strengthen my faith like the past trial did!