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Not your language?
(By: Gwen Lanning)
May 13, 1971 my doctor said, "I wish I could help you. You have to get rest. Don't worry about drug addiction. The pain counteracts this. You have no other choice." Then he pulled out a prescription blank for two hundred of one of the most powerful pain averting drugs available. I was dying of cancer and the doctors had done all they knew to do. For over four years they had fought to save my life.
My name is Gwen Lanning. The disease had been diagnosed as "Reticulum Cell Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. A brief history of my illness is as follows:
October 1966 to July 1967: My left arm began aching and pain increased until I could get no rest. Cortisone injections furnished temporary relief but pain always returned with higher intensity. X-rays, a biopsy and pathology examinations of bone and surrounding tissue samples revealed a malignant tumor. Seventy-five percent of the bone had already been destroyed by the tumor leading the doctors to estimate the disease had existed for at least three years. At my insistence to know the whole truth, I was told that this is a slow growing type of cancer and that statistics indicate it is terminal within a short period of time after it is discovered.
August 1967 to October 1970: Radiation therapy was applied to the arm over a five-week period. Pain and swelling started in the upper left leg. X-rays showed nothing, yet the leg continued swelling and the pain increasing. By December 1969, I could hardly use the leg. A radioactive material was injected into the blood stream and a bone scan was made. This revealed a large tumor on the bone above the knee. Cobalt treatments were applied to the area over a three week period during which time the right shoulder began aching. Pain in the shoulder increased so that pain averting drugs and sleeping pills were ineffective in providing rest. X-rays again showed nothing and I was sent home with instructions to do no work. For several months I had to be treated, physically as an infant. My body became so sore and swollen that I couldn't bear the pain caused by the softest touch. Bone scans, another biopsy and pathology examinations of bone and bone marrow samples confirmed fear of the disease's progressive growth. It had now spread throughout all the long bones, the spinal column, into the liver, spleen and other organs of the body. Radiation was ruled out as a course of treatment and anti-cancerous drugs by injection were tried.
November 1970 to May 1971: The injections of the anti-cancerous drugs were stopped because of their damage to the blood chemistry and another drug was taken, by mouth. Side effects from this drug resulted in a severe infection of the entire genito-urinary tract, resulting in even more misery. A tumor in my left side had enlarged so that it was pressing on the intestines. Normal elimination of the body's waste was virtually impossible and I became so sick that food or water wouldn't stay in my stomach. I asked if the tumor could be removed by surgery and was told, "No, Gwen, the cancer is too far advanced."
These are the medical facts. They don't reveal all the physical suffering and mental depression which existed. My body had built up a resistance to the effects of the pain averting drugs so that more powerful ones were introduced as the less potent ones became useless. These served only to dull the pain...never to eliminate it. I tried to hold back the tears and cries of agony but would often call out, "Oh, Lord, how much longer must I suffer." I knew my time on earth was ending and I was depressed as I looked about and saw where all the money being spent on me could be used to a better advantage.
Our eldest son had been a music major in college, but had discontinued studies for lack of financial support. He had met two new Christian friends, and had requested their prayers for me.
On the morning of May 17, 1971, one of his new found friends called me and said, "The Lord has directed me to call you and tell you not to worry. He said that He is not taking you home for a long time."
I had barely met this man, and I must admit that I had some rather odd feelings about him and his so-called message from the Lord! I told him that I wasn't worried and that I was ready and wanted to be taken from this life. But, he continued, telling me of miracle healings that he had witnessed and of his being healed of arthritis a few years earlier.
On May 28, 1971, a friend came to me and asked me to go with her, the following day, and attend a miracle healing service. The service would be in Portland, Oregon, and would be conducted by Miss Kathryn Kuhlman. I had read Miss Kuhlman's book, "I Believe in Miracles" and had watched her weekly telecast many times. I had rejoiced, in amazement, to each testimony of miraculous healing. These testimonies had helped me to attain belief in God's healing powers for persons who had "enough faith". I didn't have the faith to believe that He would heal such a hopeless case as I, and couldn't make myself ask Him to waste His time on me!
My friend was very insistent, and I looked to my husband for advice fully realizing that my body was in no condition to withstand an automobile trip of 400 miles round trip.
A nurse friend was present. She urged me to go, saying "This may be the answer for you." After some discussion my husband and I concluded that I had nothing to lose, and that the trip could be made bearable - by my being completely cushioned with soft pillows, to absorb the shocks and vibrations of travel.
At seven o'clock the following morning, my "insistent" friend, her pastor's wife, and I began a most rewarding and never-to-be-forgotten journey.
As the pastor's wife entered the car she said to me, "I didn't sleep a wink all night. I prayed all night for God to tell you to make this trip." For the next three hours, I listened as she continuously related accounts of miracle healings that she and her husband had witnessed during their ministry in Norway.
We arrived at Portland's Civic Auditorium three hours before the doors were scheduled to be opened. It was a typical early spring Oregon day - a very cool drizzly, rainy day, and I was soon chilled through and through. Every bone and fiber of my body shuddered and ached with indescribable intensity. I had never been more miserable. My friends sensed my distress, and one worked her way through the crowd, for water, so that I could take the pills, which would supply me with some relief.
Thousands of people were waiting for the doors to open. I saw many in wheel chairs and on crutches - some appearing in even more need than I. I silently prayed for them and thought to myself, "There must be something very unusual about this Kathryn Kuhlman and her healing ministry." However, I still had no thought of hope of my own healing.
As the doors opened, a request was made that there be no pushing or shoving. All the people apparently failed to hear the request, for there was certainly much of both! As the two ladies attempted to shield me, my "insistent" friend said, "I'll never do this again. If this makes you sicker than you already are, your family will never forgive me." I couldn't help feeling sorry for her, in her deep concern.
As the service began, Miss Kuhlman said, "If you people think you've come here for me to heal you, you are mistaken. My hands are only human hands. They have no magical powers. Only God can heal, and He is here wanting to help you. All you have to do is ask and believe. He will answer your every need." She called a young lady to come forward and tell the congregation of her recent healing experience.
This young woman had been afflicted with a rare blood disease. Medical science had no cure for the disease, and she had been informed that she had only a short time to live. God had touched her body and made her whole. She was now a picture of radiant health. I absorbed her every word, and suddenly hope came to me. Now, praise God, I was able to pray as never before - for myself!
My silent prayer was very short and simple, as I said, "Lord, if you can heal this one of a fatal blood disease, you can heal me of a fatal bone cancer. Heal me, Lord, to glorify your name." Immediately a sensation of warmth filled my entire body. The warmth increased rapidly to an intense heat. I removed my sweater but this didn't help. I felt as if I would explode from the heat. My friend, the pastor's wife, was watching me and apparently, through her past experiences, knew that God's healing powers had taken over my body. Miss Kuhlman was asking those who were experiencing healings to come to the stage. My friend said to me, "Shall we go up?"
This was all I needed, and I literally ran to the stage. Suddenly, I realized that my leg was no longer stiff, the swelling had left my body, and for the first time in over four years - I had no pain. I felt just wonderful.
I described my experience to Miss Kuhlman and the congregation, then she had me to do some exercises which had been impossible for me to do before. The exercises were easy to do - and painless! Suddenly she touched my cheek, my knees buckled and I fell to the floor in a semi-conscious state. I didn't know, then, what causes this phenomenon, but later learned that this happens when God's power moves very strongly through one's mind and body. Some call it "being slain by the Spirit."
As I was lifted to my feet, Miss Kuhlman simply said, "Go!" I ran off the stage in a state of happiness and excitement I had never known, and returned to my friends. We continued rejoicing and praising God as bodies were healed and souls saved all around us. We were truly sorry that the service had to end.
As we traveled homeward, we couldn't praise Him nearly enough. Without pain, I had no need for drugs or cushioning pillows! These were all in the past. My husband, who had sent me on my way to Portland with a motivation not born of faith in healing but rather of a desire to let what he considered would be the inevitable consequence of terminal cancer "come as it may," greeted his healthy wife with the dumbfounded understatement, "Well, that's what you went there for wasn't it?" He only confessed, much later, that he'd felt that the long journey would simply be "a means to an end." Now we share the spirit of rejoicing in faith that as God has healed my body, He has done a healing work in our marriage. The wholeness was for both of us.
I had asked God to heal me to glorify His name. He began using me at once as He led me before many groups and individuals in my hometown of Reedsport. Then I went to North Carolina, to visit, and personally tell my story to friends and relatives there. Some had to see before believing! Invitations there placed me before nine church congregations, several groups in homes, and in conference with a medical doctor who had recently lost three patients suffering from the same disease I had had. One of those patients had been my mother's sister.
My brother, Don Reece, and his wife are Southern Baptist missionaries to Nigeria, West Africa. They were home on furlough at the time. I was more than thrilled to see them returning to the mission field - with renewed faith and assurance that, with God, nothing is impossible. He had visited me in Oregon only a few weeks before. He knew how sick I was and undoubtedly had little hope of ever seeing me again this side of Heaven. The last words that he had said to me were, "Gwen, I'm still praying for a miracle." Miracles were nothing new to him. He had witnessed many, but this was the only "instant" one that he can recall.
God continued using me after my return to Oregon. Untold millions soon heard my story through my personal appearance in numerous churches, other healing services in Portland, and television and radio broadcasts of an interview, which Miss Kuhlman taped for her telecast "I Believe in Miracles." Letters and telephone calls from viewers and listeners of the tape had blessed my life beyond comprehension.
For many months preceding May 29, 1971, I had to rely on drugs to ease the pain and furnish my rest at night. The bugs mentioned in the opening paragraph of this report were being taken at the rate of two every four hours. Two were taken at eleven o'clock that morning, as we waited for the doors to open. I have had none since. After three years. I've had no need for drugs of any kind - not even a common aspirin. The only known existing evidence of the disease ever being present is a scar on my left forearm - left by the incision from the first biopsy. The doctors find nothing more. "Fantastic" a most frequently used word, as those who hear my story attempt to express their amazement. Doctors say it, nurses say it, non-professional people say it, and we are all in agreement!
He saved my soul and planted within me a desire to serve Him throughout my life. This is the greatest of all miracles. He healed my body of a most dread disease. Then He baptized me in His Holy Spirit, removed from me my life‑long shy nature and gave me power and boldness to witness for Him. His Holy Spirit fills me with such love and joy that I am powerless to resist sharing all that He has done for me.
Eleven months after God healed me, our wayward younger son was involved in motorcycle/truck collision. For the next three months, God comforted and gave me strength to stay by his side almost constantly, as the doctors and nurses fought to save his life. To watch and wait, praying hopefully for the recovery of a loved one so critically injured, is a very trying experience. Only God's love can sustain one through such an ordeal. Had I not known of His great love, I'm sure I could not have endured the suspense.
I praise God for doctors and nurses who are dedicated to the task of preserving life, and am assured that they are certainly called by God into this service. However, they're limited in power and their efforts aren't always successful. Without their help, our son would have surely died within a few hours. Yet, after all earthly means had been exhausted, there was still no hope for his recovery. His brain had suffered such severe damage that his remaining alive would be far worse than death. He, in their opinion, was destined to a life as a helpless vegetable - if he lived at all.
Prayers of Christian friends focused on his struggle for life and God answered their prayers. God brought him back from the very edge of death, rebuilt and cleansed his brain, delivered him from drug abuse and immorality, and placed within him the one desire to forever remain in the center of God's will. The doctors and nurses are amazed that he lives. They are far more amazed that he has control over his mind and body functions.
His handicap is at present minimal; and just recently the specialist charged with his care has completely released him from any further medical attention and from all medication. Restoration to a normal and productive life is becoming a reality. Praise the Lord!
God's word tells us in Luke 18:27, "The things which are impossible with man are possible with God." In Hebrews 13:8 we read, "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever." My son and I are but two examples, bearing testimony to the truth of these verses. God has done what man could not, in an age where many claim that miracles ended when Jesus Christ left earth. These seem either to forget or just pass over Jesus' promise "never to forsake us."
The healing of the physical body is truly an expression of God's great love but even more marvelous and important is His gift of eternal life for those who accept Him as their Savior. In Hebrews 9:27 we read, "It is appointed unto man once to die - after this the judgment." Life on earth will someday end for my son and me, but our names are in God's Book of Life. Our spiritual bodies will live throughout eternity with Jesus, as he has promised (Matthew 25:46)
Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? If you have not, let me urge you to do so, now, and let Him place a miracle in your life. You will never regret it. Praise the Lord! Bless His Holy name!
Thank you and God bless you for taking the time to read my testimony. I pray that it has helped encourage you and given you the strength you need to go on.
Dear Reader - are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW! Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
To get to know God, to be at peace with God, to have your sins forgiven, to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God. What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.
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Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-21 is our assurance)
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