BLINDED EYES OPENED

I THANK God for bringing me to America, far from my home in Switzerland. I didn’t know why I wanted to come to this country, but God knew.

      Out in north Portland I witnessed a mighty miracle which opened my spiritually blinded eyes. In my neighborhood was a young man who had tuberculosis of the bone in his limb and who had walked on crutches for 15 years. His widowed mother tried doctors and medicines but all had failed. He was given up as a hopeless case but, thanks be to God, one day someone handed them an Apostolic Faith paper and told them that God still heals the sick.

      The mother requested prayer for her son; and two of the Apostolic Faith ministers came to their home to pray for him. He had just left to go to the doctor’s office, and they met him in a grove on his way to the street car. He wanted to return home, but the minister said, “We will pray for you right here.” The boy sat down on an old log, and they anointed him with oil, according to James 5:14, and prayed the prayer of faith.

A Miraculous Healing

       The Lord healed that young man instantly. After he was prayed for, he got up, threw aside his crutches and walked around among the trees, praising the Lord. When he went home and his mother saw him walking without his crutches she nearly fainted. She told me afterward that she and her son had a real prayer meeting together, thanking God for what He had done.

      Many times I had gone into that home when the boy was lying just like a dead person – almost skin and bones. The mother told me, “He won’t last much longer.” But after he was healed, he became strong in body, went to work, gained in weight to 195 pounds and was the picture of health. That case of healing let me know that God still hears and answers prayer.

More Light Dawns

      My father-in-law was ailing at that time, and the mother of the boy who was healed said, “Why don’t you take him to the Apostolic Faith church and let the ministers there pray for him?” I told her I didn’t think he would go because he was such an unbeliever, as were all his sons. But we talked it over, and finally my husband consented to take him. My mother-in-law waited with me at my home until they returned.

      It was after midnight when they came home, and we were terribly worried about their being so late. But when they came in they were very happy and their faces were shinning. They told us of the wonderful testimonies they had heard, of what the Lord had done for others, and also what He had done for them. At the close of the meeting they had gone to the altar where they prayed, repenting of their sins; and God had saved them. I thought it must be a strange church that would cause such unbelievers to think it was so wonderful.

Wanted More Proof

      It seemed I could not understand all they told me; and I said: “I won’t believe until I see myself.” I was a Roman Catholic, and had been faithful to my church; but my husband had long before become discouraged with confessing his sins and doing no better. The time had come when he did not even believe in God. For years he tried to get me out of the church. I said to him many times, “I will leave you before I leave that church!”

      From the age of six, I had confessed my sins to the priest and yet I was the same sinner all the time. I had terrible condemnation in my heart but I thought that if I couldn’t go directly to Heaven when I died, I could go to purgatory first and be purged. But I thank God I found out that I had to be purged of my sins right here on this earth – before I die – in order to get to Heaven.

Attended Church – Saw for Myself

      One night I went with my husband. It was the first time I had ever heard anyone testify of God’s saving grace. People from all walks of life told the same story – “victory over sin.” Something whispered in my heart: “Can you say that?” I couldn’t. The Spirit of God faithfully convicted me, and I realized for the first time in my life that I was a sinner on my way to hell.

      When the altar call was given I raised my hand, requesting prayer, and then went to the altar. When they asked me to pray with them, I said, “I cannot pray with you; I confess my sins to the priest.” I did not get saved that night; but as we left the church I said to my husband, “If I can get what these people have, I will leave my church!”  I could feel that they had love and peace – something I didn’t have.

Found Reality

      After four days of conviction I asked my mother-in-law, also a strict Catholic, to come with me to the Apostolic Faith church. We took our prayer books and rosaries with us. I said, “I am going to the altar and try God for myself.” When I went to the altar, I looked around and couldn’t see anybody else with a prayer book or rosary, and I didn’t know what to do. But I was hungry for God, so I just looked up to Him like a little child, asked Him to have mercy on me, a sinner, and to give me what these people have.

      That very moment the precious Blood of Jesus washed all my sins away. It was mighty real to me. The Spirit of God filled my soul, and the praises of God just flowed from my heart. I knew I was a child of God; I knew I had been born again.

      The people praying with me told me to ask God to sanctify me. I did not know what that mean; but I asked Him, and He sanctified me. It was a real experience too – a second definite work of grace. My soul was filled with still more love and joy. Then they told me to ask God to baptize me with the Holy Ghost. In simple faith I asked; and He filled my soul to overflowing. All I wanted to do was to praise God.

            On the streetcar going home that night I continued to praise God. I did not care who was looking at me. I was happy and free. I knew all my sins were gone. I had peace in my soul. When we reached home my mother-in-law opened the door and said to my husband, “Here, I bring you an angel!” He knew what she meant – that God had done something for me.

Home Made Happy

      Our home had been a miserable one. I was bound by an awful temper and for years there had been turmoil, quarreling and fighting in that home. But the night God saved my soul He took that temper out. I had confessed my temper to the priest many times and asked him what to do about it. He said to try to do better, and try not to say anything when trouble arose in the home. I tried, but it didn’t help; so I gave up trying. My confessions to him never helped me. But thank God, Jesus put peace into my heart, and delivered both me and my husband from the bondage of sin, and gave us a happy home.

Neighbors Stirred

      Our conversion stirred the whole neighborhood. My husband began straightening up his past life. He paid hundreds of dollars on debts that had been outlawed – debts he said he never would pay.

      My father-in-law had smoked the pipe for 60 years, and my husband for 25 years, but from the time God saved them, the desire to smoke was gone, as were all other sinful habits; and my father-in-law was healed of his affliction.

Our Great Physician

       After God saved our souls we trusted Him for the healing of our bodies, and the medicine went out of our home. My husband carried out a whole basket full of bottles of medicine and threw them away.

   Later in life I lay sick, at death’s door. The doctor gave me only two hours to live; but the people of God held on in prayer for me, and the Lord healed me. He has been my Physician through the years and has given me needed strength. I have much for which to thank Him.

      Over fifty years have passed since the day of my conversion; and my life has not been “flowery beds of ease.” I have had many trials and tests but the Lord has taken me through them all victoriously. He has been my best Friend.

     My prayer to God is that He will keep me faithful to the very end of this Christian race. – B. B.