Bessie Myers

I praise God for this wonderful salvation. I am glad that, while God was saving others, He did not pass me by. I was not ignorant of the way of salvation. My Christian mother taught me that the Word of God is true. She not only taught it, but she lived it before us children every day.

I was taken to church and Sunday school ever since I can remember, and when just a child of nine or ten years old, I went forward to a Methodist altar and God saved me. I knew He made a change in my heart. As I grew into womanhood, though, I let the love of the world creep into my life. Soon I found that the love of God was gone. I do not believe there is a more miserable person in this world than the one who has once known the love of God and has lost it.

When I came to the West Coast, I drifted farther away from the Lord than I ever intended to go. My mother was back in the Midwest and I knew she would not know what I was doing. I thought I could have a good time and enjoy the world. For a few short years I tried the pleasures of the world, but I can say from the depths of my heart that they utterly failed to satisfy me. I became sick and tired of what the world had to offer.

God knows just how to reach every individual soul. He permitted a terrible affliction to come upon my body that caused me to suffer constantly. I was a young mother in my early twenties, with two small boys, and scarcely able to care for them. That was a dark hour in my life. I was facing a very serious operation, but the thing that troubled me most was that I was not ready to meet God; should anything happen to me, my soul would be lost.

I will never forget one cold, winter night when I stood on a street corner in downtown Portland, Oregon, and heard some Apostolic Faith people testify in a street meeting. A hope came into my heart that God could do something for me. Once more, I had a desire to pray until I knew that I was right with God.

I went to the old-fashioned camp meeting being held by these people. At the close of the meeting, God talked to my heart and helped me to get on my knees and pray. Christian people gathered around and prayed with me. I confessed my sins and told God I would give Him the rest of my life. I purposed in my heart that if no one else took the way, I was determined to serve Him. God saved me that very moment. He gave me the witness from Heaven that my sins were forgiven. I jumped to my feet and began to tell those around me that Jesus had saved me. The burden of sin was gone, and joy and peace flooded my soul.

The Lord healed me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet when He saved me. I never underwent that operation. He has added years to my life and given me wonderful health and strength. Best of all, He has given me a hope of Heaven, and I thank Him for it.

Bessie Myers was saved in 1910. Her husband, DeWitt Myers, served for a time as pastor of the Apostolic Faith Church in Grants Pass, Oregon.