Testimonies Blog

I was discharged from a Youngstown hospital with a crippling disease, Muscular Dystrophy. The doctors considered mv case hopeless. One year later I am normal and
healthy. Whereas a year ago I could not pick up a glass of water, today I am taking care of an eight-room house, a husband, and two small children. Only Jesus could bring about this miraculous change in my condition.

My trouble began in the summer of 1956 when I found myself growing very
tired. We were moving into a new home so I thought perhaps that was the reason I felt so weary all the time. Then I learned I was to have my second baby. I became more and more tired. About the third month I began to lose my balance. I would fall very
easily and very often. I was quite worried about the baby but the Lord gave me an inner assurance that the baby would be all right.

During the following months I grew very weak. I could not peel potatoes, lift a quart of milk, or even feed myself. I had to walk stiff-legged to keep from falling. My doctor was puzzled over my condition but I could not undergo the necessary examinations due
to my pregnancy. With the help of the Lord I gave birth to a little girl. She was a healthy child. She was born on June 20, 1957, and the doctor released me from the hospital hoping I would have no further trouble. However, my strength again began to fail. My condition rapidly became worse until I could not lift or change the baby. I could not even open or shut a safety pin. Someone else had to dress her each day. I was urged to
use a wheel chair but I refused, for prayer had been offered for me and I was trusting God to heal me. I would walk a bit now and then, just a few steps at a time. But I was confined to a chair most of each day.

During those days I could not hold my Bible, so I was very pleased whenever my pastor, Brother Roy Armstrong, visited me. He would read the Bible aloud and I would ask the Holy Spirit to help me remember everything he had read to me. In July I kept failing fast and I knew I would not live long unless the Lord did a miracle. The muscles deteriorated until the flesh hung on my bones like cloth over a line. I could not feed myself or tend myself in many ways. I was hospitalized and for thirteen days underwent laboratory tests. While in the hospital I grew desperate. I told the Lord I knew there was
no earthly hope for my recovery. I told Him I was trusting Him to heal me, and I asked Him to be pleased to begin the healing work right then and there.

So I began to prove the promises of the Lord. At first I could not even hold my hand above my face while lying there in the hospital, but every morning I would pray and would try to hold my hand there. Within five days I was able to control it and touch my face. This encouraged me in believing that God was answering prayer and I had no fear.
On August 10, 1957, the doctor told my husband I had a very advanced type of Muscular Dystrophy and said it probably would cause death. They brought me home and made me as comfortable as possible, thinking it would be just a matter of time. Little did the doctor realize what a mighty healing force was already beginning
its powerful work in me. As the days progressed I exercised my body all I could and gradually my strength came back. Every time I moved I breathed a prayer of faith. I took some steps. I began to open my kitchen cupboard doors. I managed to open the drawers and get the silverware out. I just went ahead, depending on the Lord to help me; and oh, I had such peace and joy as I saw what was happening. Instead of death God was giving me new life, new strength, new hope. Sometimes I became discouraged, for
it was hard to endure the thought that I was still unable to care for my children. I claimed the promises of God’s Word and fought back against the enemy of my soul. I asked the Lord to let me take care of the children again, even though it seemed impossible at the time. I still could not fasten a safety pin. But I kept reading the
Bible and found so much there to encourage me.

Praise the Lord! Within five weeks I was able to lift the baby from the bed to tlie bassinet. I could bathe her,fasten her pins, and dress myself. I was nearly beside myself with joy. Gradually I began to do the washing, ironing, housework, and some cooking. It seemed the more I did the more the Lord enabled me to do. By the summer of 1958 I was almost normal. It was a continual fight of faith but the Lord was giving me the
victory. I testified at church as to being almost entirely healed but said I still could not run and could not wear high heels. I said the Lord, however, would continue to help me and those muscles would be completely developed. Two months later I was able to run quite well and was wearing shoes with high heels.

Today, a year from the time when I was sent home to die, I an1 normal in health and happy in the realization that Jesus not only can save us from sin but He can also heal our bodies, no matter how incurable our condition may seem.

Testimony given by Mrs. Howard Fowler in the November 16, 1958 “Pentecostal Evangel.”