Here is the testimony of my Dad's healing. He is well to this day.
On a Sunday morning in the month of December, 1955, my wife, Esther, and I were getting us and our year-old son, Kevin, ready to go to church. Suddenly, with no warning, something happened that was to drastically change my life for several months to follow. And, at the end of that period another event, also unexpected but hoped for, brought an even more drastic change into my life for all the years that have followed.
As I was walking down the hallway toward our bathroom on that Sunday morning, I suddenly sneezed and instantly felt an excruciating pain in my left hip. The pain was so intense that I was unable to stand up straight. I did not know exactly what had happened to my body, but I knew that it was not good-one moment I was fine; the next I had a bad problem.
For several days after the incident Esther and I tried to figure out what had happened and what to do about it. Would the injury (whatever it was) go away by itself? Should I see my doctor about it? I prayed and Esther prayed that the Lord would see fit to deliver me from my suffering. We also asked others to pray for us. Adding to our concern for my condition was the fact that Esther was four months pregnant with our second child.
The days went by and the pain didn't get any better. It was with me day and night. I walked bent over, unable to stand up straight. My doctor gave me some medicine, which he hoped would relieve the pain. It didn't. On January 3, 1956, I made an appointment to see an osteopath, a kindly, elderly gentleman named Dr. H. E. Eustace.
Dr. Eustace told me that apparently when I had that big sneeze back in December, I was off balance and the force of the sneeze had caused injury to my sacroiliac joint. He explained that, since I had gone a couple of weeks or more without treatment, the ligaments which hold the sacrum and ilium together in the pelvis area had been badly stretched and that pressure had been put on my sciatic nerve. That explained the severe pain I was feeling along the back of my thigh and down my leg.
Dr. Eustace's treatment, stretching the leg with traction, put the sacrum and ilium back in place and for the first time in many days, my pain was gone. I could once again stand up straight. He told me I would have to be very careful as I moved around, especially getting in and out of a car, or it could come out of place again. He said I should put a board under our mattress so that I would have a very firm bed to sleep on. I followed his instructions to the letter.
I continued seeing Dr. Eustace for physical therapy treatments: 8 in January, 10 in February, 10 in March and 6 in April. However, it soon became obvious that something was not going right. The ligaments had been stretched so badly that they would not hold the joint in place very long. Some days I would leave the doctor's office feeling fine, get in my car and drive, but before I got home, the bones would slip out of place and the pain would return.
In an attempt to deal with the problem, after Dr. Eustace put the joint in place, he would put a large, wide belt around my hips and cinch it up very tight. That helped, but only for a short time. And even with a board under my mattress, the bed was still too soft. He suggested that I should begin sleeping on the floor to increase the firmness under me (trying to sleep, that is). I followed his suggestion and moved into the living room with a cotton twin-size mattress the doctor loaned me for my bed.
The condition got so bad that Dr. Eustace loaned me one of his special belts and showed me how to put myself back in place at home. But it got even worse. At night I would lie down on the lightweight, cotton mattress on the floor in our living room, put the bones back in place with the belt and sleep on my back all night, trying not to move. In the morning, I would carefully turn over on my right side and try to stand up. The joint would slip apart.
By now, we were into the month of May-nearly 20 weeks since my accident. To add to our anxiety, our baby was due to be born the first week of that month.. The joy of that coming event was intermixed with our increasing concern for my own medical problem.
One evening, Dr. Eustace came out to our home to save me from driving to his office. (Visiting patients at their home was not a common practice by doctors.) He brought along his brother, also an osteopath, who was visiting him for a few days at that time. They examined me and discussed my case. Dr. Eustace said that we had two options left: one, have a surgeon put a pin in the joint to hold the two bones together (this would cause my back to be permanently stiff), or two, try an injection of a certain fluid into the ligaments hoping to cause them to swell and tighten up, thereby holding the bones in place.
At the end of their visit, I was lying on the living room floor, afraid to move. Dr. Eustace knelt down and put the joint back in place again. Then he and his brother left, leaving both Esther and I so frustrated that we were both crying as the two doctors walked out the front door. We knew that Dr. Eustace really cared about us, but he was definitely frustrated too. By that time it was about 10.00 p.m.
I remained on the floor on my back, not daring to move. Esther got ready for bed, came into the living room, knelt down at my side and prayed for me, pouring her heart out to God for help. We both knew for sure that God was our last and only source of help. Outside of Him there was no help-no solution with which we wanted to live. We were desperate!
I don't remember sleeping. Sometime in the middle of the night, I began to realize that something very unusual was happening in my body. It has never been possible for me to describe it to my own satisfaction to another person. It was like nothing else I have ever experienced in my life.
This is my best explanation: Slowly, gently, but firmly, I felt warm fingers, as it were, moving down my back and across the area of my injury. It was not a pressing or a kneading feeling. It was not forceful or rough. I remember thinking, "What is happening to me?" Because this was all so gentle, my mind was not alarmed or troubled. On the contrary, I felt a growing acceptance and peace. Whatever this was, I somehow knew that something wonderful was happening.
I don't know how much time went by during this experience. When it was over, I remained on my back, not moving for a long time, still awake, thinking about what had just happened and trying to figure it out. One thing I knew for sure, it was a supernatural experience. It was something outside of myself. And although I felt gentleness and warmth, I also sensed the application of power.
Gradually, I came to the conviction that I had been touched by the Holy Spirit. Why should I be surprised by that possibility? Why should I have any difficulty coming to that conclusion? It is what we had prayed for, over and over again.
I could hardly wait for Esther to wake up so that I could share this experience with her. When she looked into the living room to check on me (it was still dark outside), I said, in tears, "I believe God has healed me."
"Tell me what happened," she said. And, so I did with great joy. She said that every time she woke up during the night (which was often because of her pregnancy) she would kneel by the side of the bed and pray. We both believed that our loving Savior had heard and answered our prayers.
I was anxious to find out for certain that I really was healed, so I decided to turn over and stand up, hoping that the joint would stay in place. I stood up. It stayed in place. I walked around the house. It stayed in place. All through the day I increased my activities with joy and thanksgiving to the Lord. It stayed in place. There was no pain. Without a doubt, the Lord had healed me.
From that day to this-for nearly half a century-my sacroiliac has never gone out of place, ever. It was a MIRACLE from GOD. There could be no other explanation.
By the way, a few days later, Esther gave birth to a 7 pound 4 ounce baby girl named Mary Ann. She was two weeks late in coming. God's timing was perfect and our joy was complete.