For nine years I was a hopeless invalid, the greater part of the time as helpless as an infant, not able to move, and when moved the pain was so severe that my screams could be heard a long distance.
I was attended by ten of the best physicians of our state (North Carolina). One said it was rheumatism; another, "I don't know what it is. I will see if I can read up on the case;" another thought it was enlargement of the bone, as my joints were enlarged, as hard as solid bone, and much inflamed and sore to the touch. But all they said did not wholly discourage me, for I felt that God had the power to heal me and that He would at some time. I tried to read my Bible but my suffering was so intense I could not read much and could not comprehend what I did read.
In May, 1895, we moved to New Bern, North Carolina. The M. D.'s thought the change might help me. My mother came to see us and told us of a friend who had been healed by some new method, but she knew nothing of it. She wrote to him, and he sent pamphlets. She read them to me, and I caught at it, thinking it my last hope. My husband opposed it, so I gave it up. One morning a friend came in, and my mother asked her if she knew of this kind of healing; she said, "Yes, right here in this town, there is a lady that professes to heal all diseases through the power of God." She added that she had no confidence in it; if it were God's will, he would heal without anything like that, and that she was willing to do her own praying.
