Let me share a simple illustration of the influence of a righteous woman I know and love.

One day when my husband was serving as a stake president, he received an urgent phone call requesting his immediate help at a nearby hospital to give a priesthood blessing to a faithful man in our stake. As he arrived, the man’s wife met him at the door. Upon telling the physician that her stake president was there to give her husband a blessing, the doctor informed her that her husband was about to die and she had better prepare herself for the inevitable. Pounding on his chest with her fists, she emphatically opposed him and said in effect, “He is going to be healed. My stake president is here to give him a priesthood blessing, and he will live!”

Was it the priesthood blessing, offered by a worthy priesthood holder who pronounced a blessing, yet acknowledged the will of the Lord? Or was it the unwavering faith and influence of a righteous woman? Or was it both that brought about the miraculous healing that followed? I like to think Heavenly Father took both into account to bring about the miracle that preserved the life of this husband, who shortly afterward was called to serve as our stake patriarch.