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My *Experience

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Dec 29, 1904

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 52.

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My Experience

By M. HARRISON

M. HARRISON
Having received much valuable assistance from time to time by reading the reports of the dear REVIEW family, I feel impressed to send a testimony of the wonderful way in which the Lord healed me in a recent illness. I trust the recital of this experience may increase the faith of many in the never-failing word of our tender, loving Lord.
In the early part of March I was traveling, when an accident occurred as the train passed through a long tunnel. The vibration caused a large boulder to be dislodged from the mountain, and it fell nearly at the mouth of the tunnel. The engine and two carriages were thrown off the track. When the carriage came to a standstill, we could see what a merciful interposition of Providence it was that we had not all been hurled over a fearful precipice. I could only praise God. Of course there was quite a shock when the train stopped; but it was in being transferred from the wrecked train to another that I received the injury to my left side.
When I arrived at the house to which I was going, I was in much pain, and was also suffering from the shock to my nervous system. I returned to my home in Kingston, Jamaica, and although I was up and about for a few days, I suffered all the time, till the fifth of April. The pain in my side was excruciating. The part was so swollen that I could not put on my clothing. I tried hot fomentations, but consulted no doctor, as I could not afford one.
The fifth of April I seemed to be dying, and my family was sent for. The physician was called. Prayer was offered incessantly for me by our beloved Elder Tanner and by the members of our church, and I was spared at that time. For weeks I was confined to my bed. There were days when it seemed that the agony was more than I could bear. I could not sit up, nor hold up my head. It seemed as if the spine were affected; and the severe swelling, almost dropsical in appearance, did not subside.
I called in the doctor one day, and pleaded with him to help me. He told me that nothing could be done. When he left, I was depressed for a short time. Then I remembered the words of the blessed Bible, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man,” and, believing that the Great Physician could heal, I cried to him.
My friends were solicitous about my suffering so much, and called another doctor. He came two days later, and examined me, but did not say much. The next day he sent medicine; but it brought no relief, and I continued to grow worse. For two days and nights the pain was incessant, and hot fomentations, poultices, and mustard plasters were of little avail.
On Thursday evening, the second of June, I thought of asking for a physician, but did not do it. It seemed impossible to stand the pain. My heart was weak, and I could scarcely speak. Elder Tanner had prayed for me in the morning. Elder Beckner came to see me. He had just returned from his journeys around the island. After a little conversation with me, he asked if I did not believe in the healing power of the Lord. I answered, that I surely did. He spoke of Peter’s wife’s mother, and gave these texts: Matt. 7:7; 18:19; 1 John 3:22; 5:14, 15. There were four in the room—one of our sisters, my youngest daughter, Elder Beckner, and his wife. They knelt around the bedside. I was weak and exhausted. The poultices and plasters were removed. I heard Brother Beckner’s pleading prayer for me, a mother in Israel, that if it was God’s will, I should be healed now. I took up the prayer in a distinct voice.
After prayer Elder Beckner said, “Sister Harrison, do you believe in the healing power of the Lord?” I answered, “Yes, I do.” He then took my hand, and said, “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, Sister Harrison, I desire you to show your faith by rising.” It seems wonderful, but I rose to a sitting posture, and all my weakness, all the soreness, and the swelling were gone. It was indeed a miracle that the Lord had wrought for his unworthy servant, and I was healed. I have not words to express my gratitude to him. O, the wonderful power of the Lord! Shall we not trust in thatAlmighty power? Shall we not walk so closely to him that in the time of need we may call upon him, and he will hear?
The first doctor who had visited me called in the evening, and I was able to tell him of my deliverance. I wrote to the other physician, and he said he joined with me in praising the Lord, for my case was hard to diagnose, and still more difficult to treat.
The day after I was healed, I read the account of Sister Pilquist’s healing, as given in the REVIEW, and I felt that the Lord was mighty. The one hundred and forty-fifth psalm conveys the sentiments of my heart.