Minnie Phillips

My heart is filled with praise and thanksgiving tonight for my wonderful Savior! I am so thankful that the Lord included me in His great salvation. Oh, how good the Lord is! All through the years, He has kept me through many sicknesses and many hardships until this day, but I always called on the Lord, and He has never failed me. I thank God for my good family. I thank God for my church, our ministers, and for all the joys He has given me.

You know, the Lord had to wake me up early this morning to remind me that I hadn’t testified for a while to tell the wonderful things He has done for me. So I took courage tonight. I want to tell what the Lord has done for me all through my life.

I had a wonderful Christian mother and dad. In fact, my father was a preacher in a German church for many years. I always had a desire to be saved and go to Heaven some day and I knew what the Bible said.

When I was just nine years old, my mother was very sick and not expected to live. I was the oldest of five children and the responsibility of taking care of the entire family rested on my shoulders. It was a heavy burden for me to carry, and I felt so inadequate. I remember praying earnestly to the Lord to please heal my mother, and I knew in my heart that the Lord heard my prayer and would heal her. After that, I went to the hospital to visit my mother, and she had a big smile and told me she had seen a vision and the Lord came into her room and touched her and healed her. From that time on, she began to improve and soon came home. I knew the Lord answered my prayer.

I always had a desire to be saved and go to Heaven some day and I knew what the Bible said.

Later, I married and we tried to raise our children right, but soon there was much sorrow, unhappiness, and trouble because I didn’t know the Lord, and because of my husband’s sinful habits. I carried a heavy burden for many years.

How well I remember fifty-four years ago today, on a Pentecost Sunday in a little church in Scranton, Pennsylvania, when I knelt at the foot of the Cross. The Lord lifted that heavy load and took away my heartaches and sin! I didn’t go deeply into sin, but I had many, many burdens and problems in my life. But when I called on the Lord that Sunday morning, a broken-hearted sinner, He delivered me and put joy, peace and contentment into my heart that I had never known before. He put me on my way rejoicing! Things were different after that, and I had a Friend to bring my burdens and trials to. He helped me to raise my five children in the fear of the Lord.

Several years later the Lord led us to the Apostolic Faith Church in Los Angeles, CA, where my husband also prayed and found the Lord. Our family had heard about sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Ghost and we were hungry for more of God. Later, the Lord sanctified me and baptized me with the Holy Ghost and fire. How well I remember when the fire fell! It was at a camp meeting in 1960. Brother Bob Hanlin and his brother were singing a duet, “I Want to See My Savior First of All,” when God’s Spirit came over me and I began to cry out loud. The fire fell and God’s presence was evident as many people began to fill the altars while others dropped on their knees in the seats. The Lord poured out His Spirit in a wonderful way, and Brother Crabtree never gave the Bible teaching that morning. I had been seeking my baptism ever since I had arrived in Los Angeles, but that day the Lord filled me to overflowing. I will never forget that day when the fire fell!

I remember crying out to the Lord to take me Home.

In 1961, we met with a terrible accident in Amarillo, Texas. We drove to Decatur, Illinois to pick up my mother, who was very sick at the time, so I could bring her back to live with us in Los Angeles and care for her. We had planned to stop for lunch in Amarillo, but instead we ended up in the hospital. It was a rainy day and as we were going through a four-way stop, someone hit us head on. I landed out on the pavement with all of my ribs broken and my left kidney crushed and bleeding. Of course, I was unconscious and don’t remember anything until I woke up in the hospital in the intensive care unit. I was in so much pain with my broken ribs, and they came in my room every morning with a machine to dry out the blood from my kidney for fear of infection. I remember crying out to the Lord to take me Home. I told him I couldn’t stand the pain any longer. Then the Lord spoke to me from Heaven and said, “I’ll not let you suffer any more than you can bear,” and He showed me how much He suffered for me. I was comforted through that.

A few days later I remember my son-in-law being at the foot of my bed and reading the 23rd Psalm to me, just before they were ready to take me in the operating room to remove my left kidney. The doctor told me it was necessary because it was too badly damaged. I knew that prayer was made up and down the Coast and my children were praying for me too. At that time I received a telegram from Brother Bob Hanlin telling me that the Los Angeles church had been praying around the clock, and that gave me encouragement. The Lord had also given me a witness that morning that everything would be fine and the Lord was going to heal me. I even told the doctor that I had a touch from Heaven and they wouldn’t need to take me to surgery. But you know, the doctor didn’t believe me, and they took me to the operating room and gave me another examination and another X-ray. Soon after that they brought me back to my room and the doctor sat on the edge of my bed and said, “Mrs. Phillips, I didn’t have to operate on you—a greater, Higher Power operated on you and you have a brand new kidney.” Then I was greatly encouraged because I already knew that the Lord was going to take care of me. And you know, it has been thirty-two years since that time, and I haven’t had a trace of a problem with my kidney.

Now I am getting old and feeble, but the Lord is still with me. I can rejoice in Him, and I am thankful that I am ready for Heaven. I know the Lord could come at any time, and I want to be ready. I thank the Lord for this privilege to testify for Him.