During World War ll, while training soldiers at Camp Robinson in Little Rock, Arkansas, I started to feel kind of odd. I went to the dispensary, and they sent me on to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with double pneumonia and spinal meningitis. The doctors did not expect that I would survive these illnesses.
Throughout this experience, I did some praying. I also sought out a Christian Science chaplain on the post, and he did some praying for me as well. I remember the chaplain came to the hospital and read to me from the Bible and Science and Health. He also read a testimony from a Christian Science magazine about someone with the same illnesses that I was having. Relying on Christian Science, this man had been fully healed. Seeing that someone else had been healed of this very same disease gave me hope, and I saw that I was not helpless. It just seemed so clear that I was holding on to God's hand and that He was in charge.
Shortly after that, I lost consciousness and remained unconscious for about a week. When I woke up, I was in an oxygen tent in the critical ward of the hospital, and my mother was standing beside the bed, singing hymns. The words in those hymns had a profound effect on me. I felt absolute security. It was so clear to me that God had guided me through this whole experience. The medical staff was amazed that I had survived and that there were no aftereffects. Once I was well again, I became much more faithful about attending church. Before, there had been some lingering doubts about prayer-based healing, but now I just had such a strong faith and felt God with me. That strong, steadfast faith has remained with me.
