A Miracle for LindaA
Touched By Life True Story
About three months before Linda was born I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of joy and love for her. I believe God gave me the experience as a gift, for it produced an instant and powerful bonding which carried us both through some difficult days ahead.
At the end of a very long day of interviews and tests at Graduate Hospital we were shocked and devastated to hear that Linda had acute lymphocytic leukemia, which was incurable. The year was 1964. The average child with leukemia died within nine months. We praise God that Linda s first complete remission lasted for nine months and that she lived for nineteen months. We praise God that except for during three hospital confinements to receive medical treatment, she lived a normal and painless life. Not long after Linda's illness began someone gave my husband, Harold, the book, I Believe in Miracles, by Kathryn Kuhlman. We both had been raised in church and heard that Jesus had performed miracles of healing, but in the book we read of present day healings. Could we believe that God would cure Linda? We did believe. Encouraged by the testimonies we read, we shared our beliefs with everyone we knew and asked them to pray along with us. I began to listen nightly to Kathryn Kuhlman's radio program from Wheeling, West Virginia. She preached consistently on the presence of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. She also broadcast first person testimonies of healings from debilitating and fatal diseases. Encouraged, I wrote to Ms. Kuhlman asking her to pray for Linda. She wrote back, quoting a verse from Psalm 91, I will be with him in trouble. We were hoping for a miracle. We took Linda to one of Ms. Kuhlman's weekly Friday afternoon healing services. Unfortunately, however, after waiting in line for three hours, we lost our seats when I took Linda to the restroom. Afterward we could not get close enough to see what was going on. We returned home disappointed. We were still looking for a miracle. My father took us to a healing service at St.Stephen's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, led Dr. Alfred Price. Then three weeks before Linda s death my parents called me to say they felt led to take us to Ms. Kuhlman's healing service again. Harold, who was traveling, could not join us, but I said Linda and I would love to go. We left very early Friday for the five-hour ride to Pittsburgh. Again, we waited for three hours in line and scrambled toward the front where we found four seats together. This time it was different. Early in the service one of Ms. Kuhlman's prayer partners stopped at the end of our row and asked us about Linda. After a brief conversation the woman said, "God is doing something here. Come with me." Since Ms. Kuhlman would lay hands on someone only if it was discerned they were already receiving some healing, I was thrilled. I lifted Linda in my arms and carried her to the stage. Ms. Kuhlman looked at us and said, "I've prayed for this child." I said, "Yes. We wrote to you to ask for your prayers." Then she reached out with her right forefinger and barely touched my forehead. Instantly, with no sense of falling, I fell backward. Since most people responded that way at these services, two strong men were on the stage ready to catch us. Immediately they lifted us back up. Linda began to cry. Dazed, I carried her back to our seats. We left the service grateful, thinking that Linda had been cured. However, Saturday, as we traveled back to our home, I noticed many round bruises rapidly appearing on Linda s arms and legs. My heart sunk as I realized she was not cured. Sunday I called Dr. Beizer who told us that instead of bringing her to him for her regular weekly checkup we should bring her to the hospital Monday morning. Linda had painful memories of bone marrow tests and spinal injections during her previous two confinements, so she feared going back to the hospital. More then once, as we took her for her weekly exam to Dr. Beizer s office, she would fearfully ask for reassurance she was not going to the hospital. That morning we told Linda plainly she was going to the hospital and put her in the car still in her pajamas. We expected her to make a fuss, but as we entered the hospital we noticed Linda did not seem distressed. As the day proceeded, we also noticed she was not sucking her fingers. We could hardly believe how peaceful she seemed. Unfortunately, the new chemotherapy failed and Linda died three weeks later. However, during those three weeks she never sucked on her fingers again. We began to understand that the healing she had experienced had been spiritual and emotional, not physical. We believe that Linda had a first hand encounter with Jesus that filled her with such inner security she could die in peace. We have never doubted for an instant that Linda is with Jesus. We are not promised that when we pray for healing we will always experience a physical cure, but we are promised we will receive God's salvation, God's peace and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus died, he told his disciples he was leaving them his peace. That peace of God which passes understanding is exactly what Linda received. For about ten years my husband, Harold, and I have prayed with the sick and troubled. Although we see many physical improvements and an occasional cure, we mostly see people receiving the peace of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Whenever I can, I assure people they don t have to be psychic or especially holy to have spiritual experiences. I tell them all they need to do is to turn their hearts toward God and pray, because God loves us and wants to give himself to us. Related Articles
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