Myrtle Benedict

I am so very thankful that, many years ago, I was permitted to hear the wonderful story of Jesus. I lived with my parents in Alberta, Canada, on a large farm. My mother was very ill and was in and out of the hospital. We didn’t know what to do.

God, in His mercy, led a man who was not a Christian to write to my folks, and he sent an Apostolic Faith paper to them. He said to my mother, “If you come down here, these people will pray for you and you will get well.”

Soon my mother came to Portland, Oregon, and went to the Apostolic Faith Church, and the ministers of God anointed her with oil in the name of Jesus and prayed the prayer of faith, and God healed her. She lived for several years after that to tell the wonderful story of Jesus.

It was only a short time until my father and I came down to Portland, and for years I had the privilege to be raised in a Christian home. Then I turned to the things of the world to see if I could find any enjoyment.

Later, I married a man who was also a backslider, and as time went on, sin almost wrecked our home. I would say to my husband, “You will have to give up your drinking, or I will leave you.” He was so bound he couldn’t do it. The faithful prayers of my mother and father followed us for years.

I look back to years when God found me, a miserable backslider. I once had the love of God in my heart, but I turned my back on God and went into sin. I got to the place where I did not think He would ever save me again. It seemed there was not a ray of hope left for me, but God has ways to work.

Peace filled my soul, and it seemed as if a ton of weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

One day, God permitted an accident to come. My husband went to work and he said that he would only be gone a couple of hours. While he was in the boiler room, there was an explosion and the room was on fire. There was no escape except through the manhole and the flames were shooting up there. He uttered these words “God help me.” God helped him to get out of there. Some men beat out the fire and pulled him out. He was rushed to the hospital in that terribly-burned condition.

As he lay there with his face and arms all bandaged up, with just slits in the bandages for his eyes and mouth, I said to him, “God has permitted this for a reason; you had better pray.” He said, “I can’t—I can’t make my restitution.” I said, “If it is anything I can forgive, I will,” never knowing what it would mean. As he talked, he began to confess to me, and I was facing the very thing I always said I would die before I would forgive. Then the devil said to me, “You can’t forgive him.” To my surprise, as the night wore on, God put real forgiveness in my heart, and I was not even saved.

God began to deal with my heart and my husband’s heart, and God saved him right there in the hospital. God also healed him. He was out of the hospital in four weeks’ time. The doctor had told me that if he lived at all, it would be at least three months before he would ever leave the hospital.

God began to talk to me. Four weeks later I came into the Apostolic Faith Mission and went to the altar with a broken heart. I am so glad I cried out to God. He had mercy on me and saved my soul. I was so thankful for the faithful workers who continued to pray for me, and at last the burden of sin was lifted. Peace filled my soul, and it seemed as if a ton of weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

God has been so good to me. About two years ago a drunken driver crashed into my car and totaled it out. I was rushed to the hospital and into emergency surgery for a knee injury. I said to the Lord, “If You see fit to spare me, I will give You every ounce of strength You give me.” When the doctor checked the knee a few weeks later, He said, “I thought you would never bend that knee again!”

I have had many years to serve my Savior. He has been so very good to me. It is real to be a Christian.