Blanche Cox

I thank God I can say I am a Christian. In 1954, in an Apostolic Faith camp meeting, about the fifth meeting I attended, the people sang, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” I was convicted, and at home, those words wouldn’t leave me. I walked the floor and thought, ‘I don’t know what is wrong.’ Then I realized I was under conviction, and I thought, ‘I don’t believe God will save me. I don’t know if I can keep my promises.’ I didn’t see how I could possible give up my circle of friends, the theaters, the night clubs, and the cocktail parties. I prayed, though. God didn’t save me in a few minutes as He does some people. It was one o’clock in the morning before I got saved. It was a good hour, for if it had been four o’clock in the afternoon I would have been out on the street telling everybody. I was so happy that God had included me.

It seemed I had had everything in the world to make me happy. I had traveled all over the world, but I couldn’t find any lasting joy or happiness. I had a good time, yes, but there was always that aching. Today I have joy in my heart. I was amazed when God saved me that the desire for all the things I thought I could not live without was washed away. That was so wonderful.

I thought, He saved me and I know He will sanctify me. I kept on seeking, and I received that second marvelous blessing. It was a most powerful thing. I love that passage of Scripture, “Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord” (Zechariah 2:13). Let Him bless you.

I was privileged in 1955 to attend the Portland camp meeting again. I spent every day on the grounds for the first time in my life. I went with one purpose—to seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I was very diligent. I thought at times that God had surely forgotten me. Then I would think, “No, that prevailing prayer God will surely answer.” One morning right there in my little humble tent I was alone, and God gave me the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was so wonderful, so precious! Oh, so sacred are these experiences! I think them over many times and I never fail to get a wonderful blessing. It is wonderful, the power in prayer!

My sister had not been able to understand why I had accepted the Gospel. I told her I was happy and not ashamed to tell it. She was quite impressed. In August she had an urgent call that her only daughter was dying. My sister had three hours to make the train for Chicago, but she took time to call and say she wanted prayer for her daughter. I put in a request, and at the same time I asked for an anointed handkerchief, and mailed it to Chicago. Her daughter’s case had been diagnosed as thyroid tumor. She wasn’t supposed to live long enough for her mother to get there. They put the handkerchief on her when it arrived, and when they took her to the hospital they could not find the tumor. It had completely disappeared, and surgery was not necessary. They finally dismissed her and sent her home to her two little children. My sister said she knows without a shadow of a doubt that it was prayer that saved her daughter. There is praise and thanksgiving in my heart for all God has done.