An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

clotting treatment. After the treatment, the doctor told me that my baby was not growingand he was very small. I did not tell my husband this; I kept it to myself.One Sunday there was visiting preacher and I went for prayer for my sister who was inhospital. As I stood at the altar, the minister came to me and said ‗is there some thingwrong with your pregnancy/baby?‘ I said ‗Everything is fine.‘ He had been making eyecontact with me during the service although I did not know him.He went around the other people at the altar, and came back to me and said ‗what iswrong with your baby?‘ I could not hold back any longer so I said ‗Yes something iswrong but my husband does not know.‘ Here I was being more concerned about myhusband than I was about my baby. He called my husband from the church office andasked me the same question in front of him and prayed with us. He told me to talk to mybaby, to tell the child that I love him and generally talk to him. When my son was born hewas the size of my other children at birth. The stunted growth in my womb was corrected.This respondent demonstrated some level of faith in her own prayers and the prayers of theminister by praying for herself and then going to the altar. It appears that she experiencedsome suffering relating to her pregnancy and tried to deny this by seeking prayer for hersister who was in hospital with a more obvious illness.6.4 Suffering and FaithLewis (2003) postulates that a „rational‟ faith can fall to pieces when it is confronted withsuffering as a personal reality rather than a mild theoretical disturbance.‟ However, therespondents show that for them faith and suffering are inextricably linked and that theextent of faith in a belief system can minimize the severity of suffering although this194