Ida Maddox

I am a living miracle to the power there is in this Gospel. It just seems as if I am back from another world. It is almost too marvelous to be true that God has spared my life. If it were not for the prayers of these ministers, I would not be here today.

This past year, even through all the suffering and agony, has been the most wonderful year in all my life. God has spared me and healed me from all my diseases. There was everything wrong with me that could ever be wrong—cancers, tumors, ulcers, abscesses, and the flu on top of it all! The doctor said, “That woman will never live until I get to the front door.” But God has healed my body, and I feel better than I have in years.

Words can never describe just what it means to trust God down to the very shadow of death. For my part, I was willing to go—happy to go. When I was a girl I was afraid to die,  and afraid to be buried in the grave. But now I never think of the grave, for my heart is in Heaven. I know Jesus will meet me at the Pearly Gates, because He gave me such assurance in my heart, such faith, such peace! Oh, that I could tell every saint and every sinner what God can do and the faith He can put in your heart! It makes no difference what the test or trial may be, God is still on His throne.

Through all the suffering, when I couldn’t pray or even get on my knees, the Lord was near. I remembered a message our overseer, Brother Ray Crawford preached, that we could make our afflictions an asset. I praise God that I made mine an asset. Now I am looking forward to going to jail meetings, the hospital work, and the street work, and to give God my life as never before.

Words can never describe just what it means to trust God down to the very shadow of death.

I was fifteen years old when the light of the Gospel first came into our home. We lived in a little community on the outskirts of Oregon City, Oregon, named Canemah. My father heard about a woman evangelist who was preaching in the lower part of town in Portland, Oregon. He was told of an outpouring of the Holy Ghost and people were getting saved and healed. My father wanted to learn more about this breaking news so he and I took the Oregon City street car and attended our first meeting. My father was impressed because they didn’t ask for money.

In a few years I married, and my husband and I attended a neighborhood church for several Sundays. One Sunday when we got home, my husband threw his hat on the table and said, “All that preacher does during the entire service is beg for money, and if that’s all there is to religion I’m never going to church again.” It was at that very moment I told him about the little mission in Portland that preached from an open Bible and never took a collection. His reply was, “You’ll have to show me before I’ll believe it.” We attended our first service at Front and Burnside, and we both prayed through to a born-again experience. After that, we trusted the Lord for healing and he never failed us.

I’m reminded of another miraculous healing in my life. During the 1918 flu epidemic, my husband and I, along with our two sons, were quarantined and had no outside access. My fever soared so high I lost all my hair. My head was as bald as a billiard ball. I tried to wear a wig so that we could come to church, but going home on the streetcar I would get a migraine headache. One day, Mother Crawford called and asked if my hair had started to grow back. In tears I told her, “No, it hasn’t.” She said, “Well dear, you pray and I’ll pray and we’ll see what God will do.” In a week it started to come in, just like chicken fuzz. As you can see I am blessed with a full head of hair today.

Early in 1922 we moved to Portland to be near the new church on Sixth and Burnside. The Lord has helped us raise our four children in the Gospel and has provided for our every need.

Ida Maddox and her husband owned Maddox Transfer and Storage, a company which helped many times with the moves the church needed to make.