“Honey, the Lord is healing you”

A bad report

They were young. They had money. They had success. They had everything a person could want, except what the doctor had just told them,

Mrs. Cox, I’m afraid you have enlarged heart.

That report may not sound too serious, but in 1928 is was basically a death sentence. The couple listening to the doctor’s report was my great-grandpa and great-grandma, who our family affectionately called Dad Cox and Nanny.

The doctor, who was the best in Missouri, pulled my great-grandfather aside and advised him to move himself and Nanny to sunny California so that she could at least live out her last few years of her life in a pleasant climate. They heeded the doctor’s advice, sold everything, and moved to Beverly Hills.

It wasn’t long before they began to meet people in their new neighborhood. A lady named Lucy invited my great-grandmother to go see a woman everyone was talking about. This woman was a preacher who had a reputation for doing some crazy things.

The place was packed!

Lucy and my great-grandmother arrived late to a Sunday night service at Angelus Temple. There were thousands of people already there. The ushers apologized that they would have to seat them separately. One of the ushers took my great-grandmother towards the front of the auditorium to an open seat in the second row.

The young preacher-woman was already speaking. People were shouting out, “Amen!” and “That’s right Sister!” Nanny was not a churchgoer, and couldn’t remember the last time she had been to church, so this was all pretty surreal to her.

As Nanny was shuffling her way to the seat, everything went silent. She thought, “Uh oh, I’m interrupting the speech.” She tried to duck down. She only had a few more people to get by before she could sit. As she was focused on getting to the empty seat, she thought “I’m gonna kill Lucy!”

Then a person nudged here and said, “Look, Sister Aimee is talking to you!” Nanny turned around to see Sister Aimee Semple McPherson looking straight at her. As all eyes were now upon my great-grandmother, Sister Aimee pointed at her and said,

“Honey, the Lord’s healing you right now.”

Sister Aimee went back to preaching. The people went back to shouting. Nanny finally made it to her seat. As she sat she felt something happen in her chest that she later described felt like a knitting needle poking her chest and popping it like a balloon. She was instantly healed and lived to be almost 100 years old.

As a result of that one healing, our entire family was affected. Five generations later, not only does our family serve God, but also fervently believes in the power of God to heal.

And we live in California, not Missouri. God is good!