Answered Prayer

The winter waned, and with the approach of spring came heavy rains, and also much sickness in the Steele’s Crossing neighborhood. The measles raged in almost every home, and following measles many contracted pneumonia. The Holmier children did not escape measles, and the eldest child contracted pneumonia also. The doctor was kept very busy, and many times, when called upon, he made no visit into the home unless the patient was really ill. Joe had not called for his services when his children came down with measles, as he had often heard that there could be nothing done for them. They used the simple remedies for such contagious diseases. But when Joe saw the little fellow very ill he felt that something should be done. Five days passed, and the morning of the sixth day Joe saw that the little fellow was very sick and must have something done for him else he could not get well. How his heart went out to his dear little boy, his first-born. He had watched by his bedside all the night, and had seen him suffer as only one can with that painful disease. When Susie came into the room that morning she saw the change that had come over the little fellow and, turning to Joe, burst into tears, saying, “Oh, Joe, there must be something done, or we shall lose the little fellow. I want you to go and tell the doctor that he must come, for our boy will soon die unless we can get him some relief some way.” She walked up to the bed again but there was no response from the boy; just a groan with each breath, and a contortion of the face, and a cry of pain as he coughed.

Joe passed through the kitchen, and after doing his morning chores, went for the doctor. He did not know it just then, but as he left the house, Susie fell upon her knees at the bedside of her little boy and asked God to show her what to do for him.

Joe reached the doctor’s office, but was informed that he would not be in for some time as he had received a call early that morning. He sat down and waited for him to come, and was glad that he did when, some few moments later, the doctor came in, unable to walk straight. The scent of liquor was on his breath, and his tongue thick from the effects of the intoxicant. He came in bleary-eyed, but trying to carry an air of bravado with him, and, slapping Joe on the shoulder, burst out in a loud guffaw, and then began to relate some foolish story. But he found there was no laugh in Joe, for his mind had wandered too fast for that. He saw the doctor as he was with the crowd at the community house, the first to sign his name with those who joined themselves together to banish the saloon from their midst. Joe was indeed surprised to find the doctor in this condition, and he decided that his son was too precious to him to place him in the care of a man in such condition. So as he turned to leave the office, he said, “Doctor, I have a very sick boy and I came to see if you could not do something for him, but I do not care to trust him in your hands while you are in the condition that you are now in. I want a man to know what he is doing when he prescribes medicine for me or any of mine. I fear a man like you might give the wrong thing.” He then walked out and, again mounting his horse, rode back home.

Tears streamed down his cheeks as he rode along toward home, for he knew that his boy was very sick, and he was returning without anything to relieve his sufferings. How his heart ached as he reached sight of home and thought of the little sufferer there and nothing with him to aid in any way. He came into the house with lagging step, and as he related the morning’s scene to Susie she burst into tears and said, “Oh, Joe, what will we do? Don’t you see the little fellow is going to die unless something is done for him? You know we have done all that we know to do and he is getting worse all the time. I know he will not live through the day unless something else is done. Oh, what shall we do?”

At this Joe picked up the Bible which lay on the table in the room and said, “There is but one thing to do, and that is to see what the Book says for us to do. You know we have taken it as the man of our counsel, and there must be something in it now that will tell us what to do at this time.” So, kneeling, Joe asked God to direct him to the very scripture that they needed for this hour. He arose, and opening the Book, his eye fell on the fifteenth chapter of John, and the seventh verse, where he began reading: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”* (John 15:7) He read no further, but sat looking at Susie for some time and then he said, “Did you not hear what the Book had to say? You know we are abiding in the Lord, and you know that His Word is abiding in us, and what is to hinder us from asking Him to spare us our little boy?”

“I do not see anything else to do,” replied Susie, “and I feel that something must be done right away. Let us ask Him now.”

The two knelt by the bedside of their first-born, and there together poured out their hearts to God. Their tears fell fast as they asked God to spare them their son. Neither had ever heard that God was still working miracles and healing the sick, but as they prayed, Joe became bold and approached God in confidence, saying, “Lord, I believe Thou wilt do it, because I have taken Thy Word as the man of my counsel, and in it Thou hast said I may ask anything of Thee and Thou wilt do it.”

Joe did not know that the Word said that among the signs that follow believers was one that they should lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, but as he prayed, he laid his hands on the little boy’s brow and asked God to take away the fever and the pain. When he said “amen,” the little fellow took one long breath and turned over on his side, something he had not been able to do for two days. He closed his eyes and soon was in a natural sleep.

Joe left the bedside and went into an adjoining room where he paced the floor praising God. As Susie came into the room with him, he said, “Our boy will get well,” to which she replied, “I believe he will.”

The boy slept for several hours and upon waking called for something to eat, and asked that he might be allowed to get up, but the parents thought best to keep him in bed for the day. Every bit of fever had left him, and there was no trace of the disease. The next morning the little fellow left his bed and dressed himself, as well as ever. As they seated themselves at the breakfast table that morning, Joe looked across at his son, who, the morning before, had been so sick, and then said to Susie, “You know, wife, I believe that God can do anything.”

Joe and Susie had gone through the seige of their children’s sickness alone, for at the beginning of their illness, Tillie had also taken quite ill, and Alfred had to remain at home to care for her. The two of them had been untiring in waiting on the sick, but the exposure had been too much for Tillie and she, too, became ill of a severe cold. Her cough was so severe she was unable to sleep at nights, and as pneumonia had claimed several victims that spring, they decided to use every precaution necessary to prevent a contraction of the disease. The next morning after God answered prayer in the Holmier home, Joe went over to the Giese home to inquire about the sick, and found Tillie propped up in a chair beside the fire, only able to speak a few words between spasms of coughing.

After inquiring as to the condition of the sick, Joe related his experience with the doctor, and the condition in which he found him the morning before, and said, “Alfred, you know that man is the president of our temperance society, and I have decided that from now on I shall not be present when the society meets, for I could never feel free again to have a man like that to preside over me. I am sure that I am not one with him, and you need not expect me to be with you again when you meet.” From this the conversation drifted from one thing to another, and as Joe rose to go he said, “But I must tell you what we did that our little boy got well so quickly.” And he told how he opened the Bible and was directed to the scripture, and then asked God to give the needed help, and how the little fellow was helped immediately, and went to sleep, waking up a well boy. “And,” said Joe, “I told my wife this morning as we were eating breakfast that I believe God can just do anything.”

“Do you really believe that?” inquired Tillie.

“How could I help but believe it,” laughingly replied Joe, “after seeing help come so quickly to my boy.”

“If you really believe that, I want you to ask God to give me help right now,” said Tillie. “It seems to me that you could pray for me with the same feeling that you had for your little boy, for my baby needs me more than you needed your boy. Poor little thing, I want to help it so much, but am not able to do so.” At this she was taken with another spasm of coughing which required so much of her strength that she lay back among her pillows almost exhausted.

Joe was very much surprised at the request made, but as he looked at the poor little boy, who really needed his mother’s attention, he felt confident in the Lord, and turning to Alfred, said, “We will ask God to give her the needed help, and you know He said what we ask for we shall receive.” So the two knelt beside the chair in which Tillie was sitting propped up among the pillows, and as Joe prayed, he again reached out his hand and, laying it on her head, asked God to give the needed help to remove the headache and the cough, that she might soon be well. He had not said “amen” when Tillie arose to her feet and, taking the bandage from her head, looked from one to the other for a few moments and then said, “It is done. I tell you it is done. I felt the headache go and the cough leave me while you were praying. I tell you I feel like a new woman, for there is not an ache nor a pain about my body.” She then began to clap her hands together and sang:

“ ’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ ”*

Alfred gazed at his wife in wonder and amazement, and Joe was too overjoyed for words. Picking up his hat, Joe went to tell Susie how God had again answered prayer.