Herbert Turner had watched his wife’s weight drop from 132 pounds to 97. On the 25th of January, 1952, she was admitted for surgery on what Herbert suspected to be issues with her gall bladder. Later, he was told the terrible news that his wife had cancer that had spread all through her body, so it could not be operated on. She had six to eight weeks to live. Stella, at 49 years of age, was being sent home to die.
A Desperate Turn to Prayer
Stella was due to return home on Sunday, after nine days in the hospital. Four days before this, Stella’s sister suggested they write in a prayer request to Kathryn Kuhlman. She explained that a friend of hers had told her about the services and the broadcasts.
Herbert and his wife were regular churchgoers—they believed in prayer—but neither one of them believed in divine healing after the Bible age. Herbert agreed to write to Kathryn.
A Slow but Steady Miracle
Stella’s condition after she got home seemed to follow exactly the prediction of her doctors; but they believed she would be healed, despite her adverse physical manifestations.
Stella was taken to her first service about six weeks after she had gotten home from the hospital. She felt the Presence of God that first time she was there. Every Sunday thereafter, no matter how sick she was, they continued to go. Although she was not instantaneously healed, her condition began to slowly improve. She was able to eat more and enjoy food, but her pain continued.
The Doctor’s Astonishment
On June 1, 1955, more than three years after her cancer healing, she became ill, and her doctor once again diagnosed gall bladder trouble. She was not the least bit worried, for she believed that she had been healed. She returned to the same hospital, to the same team of surgeons who had taken care of her before. But this time things were different—when the doctors came down from the operating room to give Herbert the news, their countenances were not grim and downcast, but a curious mixture of jubilation and bewilderment.
They announced that there was no cancer. Where the cancer had been, there was now nothing except scar tissue. Where previously the organs had been damaged, they were now fully restored and in perfect condition. There was no physical sign of active cancer in Stella’s body. At her last visit to the hospital, they had biopsies done in the Massillon City Hospital laboratory to confirm their diagnosis; this time, they also sent sections for examination to Columbus, Ohio. The reports came back negative.
Had the original diagnosis been mistaken? No, not one of the five doctors that assisted at the first operation claimed this.
Faith That Heals
Stella recovered from the gall bladder operation so rapidly it amazed her doctors. When she returned to her family physician a month later for a check-up, he put his arm around her and said, “I am so happy for you. You and your family are a living example to all of us, as to what faith can do.”
Miraculous Monday: 21st November 2022
Miraculous Monday 018
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