I
got under the pipe and began working on it when everything
let loose.
When it let go, I was standing on the wet greasy
platform.
The water pressure hit my chest and threw me
backwards.
I fell off the platform and landed on my back, on a
set of railroad tracks below!
I
was taken to the hospital and they tried different things.
Nothing helped. Finally
they decided to operate - the first of many - and took out a
disk!
I
was told by the doctor before the operation that the chances
were 50-50. After
the operation, I was no better.
They tried other things.
I went to doctors in
Fredericton
,
St. John
,
Halifax
&
Toronto
.
I saw a lot of them.
No one could help me!
A doctor in
Fredericton
said,
“Let’s try another operation”.
So I went back on the operating table.
This time he told me “there is no guarantee”.
I
said, “Well, I look at it this way - we have to try
something”. Soon
after the second operation, I started going to a
chiropractor and I continued going there for 13 ½ years.
Eventually I did get back to work, but I never had a
pain free day for 17 years - NOT ONE MINUTE WITHOUT PAIN!
I
learned to live with the pain.
Most of the time, I could live with it.
When it got too bad and I couldn’t stand it, I
would go home, park my tractor trailer (18
- wheeler) and stay in bed for a week or two and just
get out of bed to get treatment.
When I got the pain under control, I would go back to
work again!
THE
DOCTORS AND CHIROPRACTORS KEPT TELLING ME “THIS IS NOT
GOOD - YOU ARE DOING MORE DAMAGE.
EACH TIME YOU’RE DOING THIS, YOU’RE DOING MORE
DAMAGE TO YOUR BODY”!
Eventually,
it got so bad I started losing all feeling from the waist
down. I’d be
driving, when suddenly all feeling would go from my waist
down. There was
nothing! I would
pull myself over with my arms into a different position, and
the feeling would come back and I’d keep on going.
THEN ONE DAY I
BEGAN GETTING OUT OF THE TRUCK, TURNED AROUND, STEPPED OUT
AND THERE WAS NOTHING THERE.
I LANDED ON MY FACE ON THE GROUND, COMPLETELY
PARALYZED FROM THE WAIST DOWN!
I laid there for quite a while.
Then I pulled myself over a little bit with my arms
by the step of the fuel tank.
I tried to get myself in position to stand up when
the feeling would return, which it eventually did.
I
went to see the doctor and told him what had happened.
He said, “You
are going to have to stop working.
One of these days the feeling will not come back and
you’ll be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life”.
So
I headed down to ‘Compensation’ again.
They tried various procedures which they had not used
before - like hooking up different machines one after the
other on me, BUT NOTHING HELPED!
All
the time I was going through this pain and yet in the back
of my mind I believed that someday a doctor would come up
with a cure. I
would somehow meet a doctor who would help me!
Well,
for the last 2 ½ years before my miracle, I worked 6 months
and I had a hard time to work those 6 months, on and off!
ONE
DAY THEY ‘SAT ME DOWN’ ON THE BED AND TOLD ME, “THERE
WILL NEVER BE A CURE. YOU
WILL EVENTUALLY BE IN A WHEELCHAIR.
YOU WILL NEVER WORK AGAIN!”
At that time, I faced reality - there was no hope.
I’d had people praying for me for 17 years.
I had prayed for myself.
And when I finally gave up on the doctors and the
people around me and put my trust totally in the Lord, I got
my miracle!
I
was taking 3 times the amount of prescribed medicines and
yet I couldn’t stand the pain. I
was praying every night that God would take me home.
That I would die!
Many days, I couldn’t sleep at all - day or night.
My wife would hear me crying and asking God to let me
die.
I
was allowed one pill every 4 hours, another one every 12
hours and another one at night.
I got so bad that I would open up the bottle and take
2 or 3 at a time. I
couldn’t wait the four hours.
The pills I was to take one every 12 hours, I would
take 2 or 3 every 3 or 4 hours.
PASTOR
MAX CAME TO LYTTLETON
I
was born and raised in a Christian home and went to the
Baptist
Church
in
Lyttleton. My
daughter Tasha started attending the
Pentecostal
Church
.
She said, “Dad, there is a man coming who preaches
the gospel and prays for the sick and many get healed.
Will you come?”
I
said, “Tasha, I’d
love to go but with the pain I’m in and the suffering I’m
going through - I wouldn’t be able to sit through the
service”.
At
that time I still believed that there was a doctor coming -
I still had that in the back of my mind - I would be cured
through medical science.
So
anyway, Pastor Max came and she asked him to pray for me.
And he gave her an anointed prayer cloth for me to
use. I carried
that cloth until he came back in September.
When Tasha told me that he was returning, she asked,
“Dad, will you come”?
I said, “Tasha,
I don’t know how I can do it but, I will go.
I promise you I will”.
I
have a good friend, Mervin Mutch, whom I work with.
He called me on Thursday and said, “What are you
doing?” I
said, “Nothing”. He
asked, “How’s your back?”
I answered, “Terrible”.
He
said, “I’m coming down to see you”.
I said, “Yeah, come on down.”
He said, “I’ve got something I want to show you”.
HE
BROUGHT DOWN THE BETTY BAXTER STORY
OF
GOD’S MIRACLE IN HER LIFE!
I
finally got to see most of it (sitting, standing and lying
down) - in starts and stops - and saw what God had done for
her.
Mervin
asked, “Will you
come to the Max Solbrekken Crusade?”
I
answered, “I promised my daughter and I’m going to
promise you that I will go to the meeting even though I do
not know how I can stand the pain”.
On
Friday night I didn’t go because the pain was too great .
Saturday, the pain was as bad as the night before.
Cathy asked, “Are you going to church tonight”?
I answered, “I
don’t know. I’m
in an awful lot of pain”.
She said, “You promised!”
I asked her if she was going and she said she wasn’t.
I
said, “I think I’ll go”, and as soon as I said those
words, the pain got worse.
I’m sure it was the devil trying to keep me away
from the crusade.
I
took a bunch of pills before going.
I took 3 of the ones I was to take one every 4 hours.
The pills I was to take every 12 hours, I put 2 in my
pocket and I went to the church and sat on the back seat.
Mervin came to me and said, “Come sit with me at the front and when Max prays for the sick, you’ll
be right there.” I
said, “No, I’ll
be in so much pain, I’ll have to go in and out and I don’t
want to disturb the service so I’ll stay at the back”.
After
Brother Max was through preaching he asked if anyone wanted
prayer. A lot of
people went for prayer so I thought, “I’ll stay here
until they are finished”.
Mervin started to bring me to the altar area when Pastor
A.W. Rowe approached me.
I was in bad shape.
He asked, “What is your name”?
I told him. He
said, “We’ve been praying for you for a long time.
After Pastor Max is finished praying with this
person, I’m going to tell him you’re here”.
Pastor
Max asked me to sit down on a chair, took my feet in his
hands and tried to raise my legs but the pain was so bad I
couldn’t lift them very high.
AS
HE PRAYED, I WAS INSTANTLY HEALED.
THE PAIN ALL LEFT.
NO MORE PAIN. I
COULDN’T BEND OVER ENOUGH TO GET MY FINGER TIPS BELOW MY
KNEE CAPS BUT INSTANTLY I COULD TOUCH MY TOES AND JUMP UP
AND DOWN AND LIFT HEAVY THINGS!
I WAS IN SHOCK!
I
stayed after the service and picked up
Pastor A.W. Rowe - who weighed 230 lbs. - and a few other people.
As I was leaving the church I thought I’ll go and
tell Mom and Dad who lived about 1 ½ miles from the church,
but decided to go right home (about 15-20 miles) so that my
wife would be the first to know about my miracle.
I
thought, “I’ve
had this for 17 years and I’ve got a wife and 2 children
who have been with me through everything”.
When
I got home, the house was empty.
My wife had gone to visit her sister and the kids
were with their friends.
I got wild and I ran up and down the stairs, did
push-ups and sit-ups with no pain whatsoever!
THEN
I GOT DOWN ON MY KN
