Sid: My guest by way of telephone is Joan Gieson I’m speaking to her at her home in St. Louis, Missouri. And after she gave birth to her first child just out of the blue she became blind instantly and the blindness would come and go and the deafness would come. And one doctor said that she wouldn’t even live. You felt almost like a walking time bomb it must have been awful to all of a sudden be able to see and then all of a sudden be blind!
Joan: Sid those were my exact thoughts. You know it was you know I didn’t know what minute that…none of us know when we’re going to die but when things are so wrong and your body starts going in the opposite direction you know that death is imminent but not knowing when. And my concern was will it be with my son, will it be in the middle of the night and whatever. And to go out my husband would take me shopping or my mom and I would go in the stores and the grief of this thing. But remember I told you that this fear came over me and that fear enveloped me and it cause me not to be able to do anything. Well Satan has a plan but I’ll tell you God’s plan for all of us is greater. And I talked to my husband by the grace of God…I shouldn’t say I talked him into it the Holy Spirit talked to my husband about taking me to Pittsburgh but it took us from September until May of the next June 1966, May the 22nd.
Sid: For those that are just tuning in she was turning on the radio found Kathryn Kuhlman but had one of had one of the greatest healing ministries of this generation. And she would hear on the radio about people getting healed and so she said childlike and that’s what we have to be in order to be in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. And she said “Jesus must be in Pittsburgh where this woman has her meetings.” So she got her husband to take her to Pittsburgh and what happened?
Joan: Well in that service first of all we took another woman from our Lutheran church and this woman had MS she too could not see and she wasn’t blind but the vision was very poor couldn’t read or anything and was very spastic. In fact she had a cup strapped to her arm just for her to drink from and couldn’t eat solid foods we had to buy baby food for her on the way, and had no control of her bowels or her bladder. How this husband ever allowed that to happen I’ll never know but he allowed us to take her and she had 4 children. Her name was Shirley and his name is Richard. We got her in the backseat and all of the way both her and I we so sick. And my husband that doesn’t believe in anything I mean he’s a strong German man and he’s just a little upset that he’s doing this. And this lady’s sitting in this backseat and he’s afraid she’s going to mess it up.
Sid: (Giggling).
Joan: And I’m sitting in the front seat and I’m sick in my stomach and I can see. Now we get to the service its midnight and we had to take her to a different place because she had to go into a wheelchair section. So I could hear her though and we would call back and forth to one another “Now I can hear and barely see thousands and thousands of people that are brought in ambulances, brought in in buses and they’re letting them off and here we are at a First Presbyterian Church downtown Pittsburgh on 5th Street. And all of these people and they’re singing songs and it’s cold and your shivering although it was spring time it was still cold. And so now the doors open it’s 9:00 and these big doors I hear swing open and everybody’s pushing, oh they’re pushing so hard. And Frank took my hand and he ran me into that church he had to run you couldn’t walk as everybody was pushing you. And we sat down and the second I sat down Sid I was just overwhelmed with this light that I felt coming from above like the front of the sanctuary. And that’s the direction it seemed to be coming from and it felt like it was on top of my head and my body was illuminated. And I said “Frank Honey what’s that light on my head?” And he said “Joan there’s no light on your head.” And then I’d be quiet for a little bit and this light was so big and so engulfing and I’m crying and I’m saying “Frank Honey please look up there’s a light on my head tell them to turn this light off.” And he’d say Joan please open your eyes there is no light on your head. Sid I opened my eyes and I saw a light it was a brilliant like a spotlight that focuses small at one end and then funnels into. And I was engulfed in this light and now I can feel something happening physically to my body. I can feel the change taking place but I’m so afraid to say anything because I’d never been in a place like that. I’ve never been in other than Catholic funerals into another church in my whole life except my Lutheran church. Now there’s no sound I’m trying to be quiet as I’m crying and I’m saying “Frank that light is so bright, honey that light is so bright; Frank I think I can see now I can see all the way to the front of the church I can see everybody’s hair, I can see the color of their clothes they’ve got on, I can see my friend all of the way over on the other side in the wheelchair.” And now in a few seconds after in time of all of this one of Miss Kuhlman’s secretaries name Maggie Harner she’s now gone to Jesus.
Sid: I knew Maggie.
Joan: She said to me she stopped in our row and she looked in and she said “Honey is God doing something for you” and I said “Yes I couldn’t see when I got here and now I can see and I could hardly walk my husband had to hold on to me and my husband had to hold on to me and now I believe I can walk, I believe I can stand.” Come out in the aisle she said come. I got out in the aisle and Sid I could see, I could walk, I spun around in a circle I mean that would knock me flat on my face. I spun around in a circle and I had complete balance and she said “Come let’s go down and tell Miss Kuhlman.” Well we walked down to tell Miss Kuhlman and she just briefly prayed for my husband and I and oh, oh she said oh and raised her hand and both Frank and I were slain by the power of that. Now that may sound scary but we laid on the floor before all of those people under that power of God that’s all I can tell you I don’t understand it even today, but I see it happen.
Sid: In other words to those that have not seen a thing most have it’s when the power of God comes on someone they can’t stand they fall.
Joan: You cannot there’s no resistance to it, and if you try to get up you can’t do that either it’s like you’ve been nailed to the floor. It doesn’t hurt it’s not frightening it’s… some people feel warmth, some people see light, some people feel…
Sid: Now your husband correct me if I’m wrong but your husband wasn’t really a true believer at that time was he.
Joan: He was not!
Sid: Well how did it affect him?
Joan: Well it changed his life you know he got saved but after that but it changed his life because he felt something. Here’s this hardheaded…
Sid: But wait a second as a non-believer he’s certainly not cooperating with anyone that wants him to fall so that had to be God.
Joan: Oh he’s never fainted in all of his life and that’s one thing that he always says if someone ask him. He said “I’ve never even fainted, I did not know what it was to lose consciousness or lose control of my own body and my own actions and there I knew I was on the floor and there wasn’t one thing I could do about it.” And here I’d been praying all of these months Sid, “Oh, God help me, oh God let me understand, let me learn and I’m so excited about the things of the Lord and he’s going “Will you calm down, will you stop this nonsense you know you’re getting like a fanatic telling me.” And now Kathryn Kuhlman says “Oh the glory on that husband.” And I thought “Oh God is that funny this guy’s been saying no and she’s saying look at the glory of God on this husband.” And well that’s kind of a fun thing but anyway when we got up when the ushers helped us up we walked to the back of the church and everybody’s hugging and holding on to…and now Sid I heard Miss Kuhlman say “Mam you in the wheelchair what’s happening with you?” And I heard this lady say “Oh nothing, I have multiple sclerosis. And I thought “It’s my friend” and I heard Miss Kuhlman say “In the name of Jesus honey just stand up from that wheelchair.” She said “Oh no I can’t do that I haven’t walked from 14 years.” Miss Kuhlman said “In the name of Jesus” now I see Miss Kuhlman walking to my friend she takes both of her hands Sid and she says “In the name of Jesus” and the lady gets out of the wheelchair my friend Shirley gets out of the wheelchair. Now Miss Kuhlman’s taking her for a walk. Here’s a lady that can’t eat solid food, she can’t go to the bathroom on her own. Frank is carrying her in and our of every restaurant that we went even out of the hotel that we stayed in and now this woman is on her feet. I had never seen a miracle before I didn’t know anything about miracles, I didn’t know anything about the power of God. I mean I was born again, I was a Christian now but I didn’t know anything and now I’m seeing my friend walking and all of a sudden Miss Kuhlman let go of her and she ran across a cross the front of that church. Oh my goodness. Sid I ran back down the front I mean you can’t even imagine or you can imagine it was like if you had just had 15 babies at one time I mean the joy of the Lord was so big in everybody and nobody is making a sound but you could feel the thrill inside of them you could feel the…
Sid: Oh Joan we’re out of time. Mishpochah so many wonderful things are going to happen to you the rest of this week be sure to come back tomorrow.
