Lucy Mack Smith's Healing from Severe Sickness

During a period of severe sickness while living in Randolph, Lucy Mack Smith was given up by her husband and doctors as dying. She made a covenant with God that if He would let her live to be a comfort to her family, she would serve Him. She heard a voice tell her to seek and knock and that her heart should be comforted, citing faith in God and the Savior. She immediately began to recover her health and strength.

Lucy Mack Smith's illness was specifically identified by her physician as consumption (tuberculosis), which had caused a heavy cold and a hectic fever. She had moved to Randolph only six months prior to the onset of this sickness. She was particularly distressed by the visit of a Methodist exhorter named Mr. Murkley, whose loud knocking and manner agitated her weakened nerves. After her miraculous recovery, she sought religious instruction from a pious neighbor named Deacon Davies, but was deeply disappointed by his preoccupation with her physical comfort rather than the spiritual guidance she craved.