HEALING by Mrs. E. H. Bramhall

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 27, 1900

HEALING

By Mrs. E. H. Bramhall

I HAVE been a constant reader of the REVIEW for twenty-eight years, and to its faithful teaching I owe my faith in the Third Angel's Message. During these years I have had many precious experiences in the things of God, but the most wonderful of all is the one of which I will now write.

The 20th of October one of my sons, who was a nurse at the sanitarium in Battle Creek, and who had had charge of a serious case of typhoid fever, became infected with the disease, and came home. One week later I was stricken down with the same disease. I took a prolonged Turkish bath, which reduced the fever, but my lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen were still badly congested. The inflammation from the spleen also extended to the pleural sac of the left lung.

From the first of my illness I had attacks of palpitation of the heart, which continued during the eight weeks I was ill. These attacks grew worse, and I seemed to be nearing death. One morning my heart felt very bad, and I said: “Dear Lord, you made my heart, and you are able to regulate it for me,” and immediately it began to grow steady. Those significant words in James 5:14, 15, began to be spoken into my mind, and to be repeated over and over, until I understood that the Holy Spirit was making me sense that my kind Heavenly Father wished to make those words true in my behalf. I spoke to my family about it, and they spoke to Elders Covert and Campbell. Feeling the need of seeking God, they appointed Sabbath morning at half-past nine o'clock as the time for a special season of prayer for me.

To look forward from Wednesday evening to Sabbath morning, in my extreme weakness, was about the hardest trial my faith was ever called upon to endure. I could only pray, “Lord, I am your child, you know how weak I am; so hold me close in your arms until the time comes when I shall be prayed for, and shall have those gracious words in James fulfilled in being raised up from this sickness.” I lived on in this way, feeling my Saviour's arms about me. Friday noon, while suffering exceedingly from weakness, I asked to be laid on a cot in the parlor, where I could receive fresh air; but no one had the courage to move me. Finally my husband knelt, and asked that the needed strength be given me; then the cot was brought to the bed, and I was taken out beside the open window. I had become too weak to use solid food, and was nourished by gruels. My daughters watched by my bed that night, and kept me warm with hot-water bags. Next morning about an hour before the time set for prayer, a bath was undertaken for me, with much prayer. For several days no bath had been given, on account of my extreme weakness. The Lord gave strength.

At the appointed time the brethren came. Elder Covert anointed my head, after which Elder Campbell offered prayer, followed by Elder Covert, and then by my husband. There seemed to be no change, so this was repeated, with the same result. I knew God wished to raise me up, so I asked Elder Covert if he had faith to take me by the hand, and in the name of the Lord Jesus ask me to sit up. He did so: I rose to a sitting position, and instantly my heart was made strong, a new circulation was given me, I began to tingle in every nerve, and in a few minutes my whole body was warm; for a new life had been imparted.

The doctor told my husband some time before that my “nerve battery” had become exhausted. He came into my room about five minutes after the Lord had done his wonderful work for me, and said that the change in my condition from the day before was marvelous.

I am improving every day, and am praising God for his wonderful goodness and mercy, and for the new desire he has given me, through this greater knowledge of his tenderness and faithfulness, to live a life of true consecration to his holy will.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” Ps. 103:1.

MRS. E. H. BRAMHALL.

Milwaukee, Wis.