FAITH CURE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3874, 22 November 1928, Page 1

FAITH CURE.

SILENT SINGER BURSTS INTO SONG. REMARKABLE INCIDENT AT WELLINGTON MISSION. Most people could hardly believe their ears at the Hawera Presbyterian Church last week (says the Hawera correspondent of the Auckland Star), when Mrs. A. J. Ching’s rich contralto voice burst into song, yet it was true, and the singer’s triumphant notes swelled above the choir’s, to the amazement and delight of friends. The last time that Mrs. Ching attended St. John’s Church previously, and that was about a fortnight ago, she was obliged to remain sadly silent. Try as she would, her vocal, chords would not respond. What is more, modern doctors told her she would never sing again. Three years or more ago, Mrs. Ching had been a richly talented singer. Faith has banished her impotence, and with it the dictum of materialism. In that accomplishment lies a story. Tongues are talking in wonder.

A handkerchief seems most irrelevant; yet the delirious desire of Mrs. Ching’s sister to possess “a little pink handkerchief” plays s» strange part in the story. Sickness and suffering for a long period has been the lot of Mrs. Ching; to-day her husband, family, and friends are delighted and amazed at the marked difference. Troubles accumulated about three years ago, when some aggravation of goitre resulted in Mrs. Ching losing her singing voice, while her ordinary speech was reduced to little more than whispering. A severe form of influenza attacked Mrs. Ching about three months ago. A telegram came advising that a sister was seriously ill, and Mrs. Ching had been unable to visit her sister in Wellington. A day or two later another telegram showed her sister to be critically ill, and Mrs. Ching decided to go to Wellington despite her own illness.

In a low condition, Mrs. Ching’s sister had been hurried to the hospital for an urgent operation. Visits revealed that the patient desired “a pink handkerchief,” and that led Mrs. Ching, still very weak, hunting the shops of Wellington for such an article. Pink borderings and colours were chosen in vain.

“A little pink handkerchief” was the delirious request, and nothing else would do. Search was continued by Mrs. Ching. While in Newtown an impulse beckoned the Hawera lady to enter a small shop, and she instinctively did so. She found there the only pink handker chiefs in the city, as well as the way to possession of her own voice, long silent, her own health, and the recovery of her sister without the necessity for the impending operation.

The lady of the shop was attached to Pastor Jeffries’ mission of faith healing, and she told Mrs. Ching she believed she had come to the shop in answer to prayer. She told Mrs. Ching that she and her sister could be cured.

A smiling lady at the mission door of the Wellington Winter Show Building welcomed Mrs. Ching with a handshake, and told her she would be cured, as many had been praying for her. Mrs. Ching believed it thoroughly, and joined in the singing preceding' the service of Pastor Jeffries. In a little while Mi's. Ching suddenly and simply burst into song, justified her faith, and amazed her nearby companions, who heard her voice above the throng. The glad news was passed around, “Cured by faith, without the laying on of hands.” “I felt calm and composed,” said Mrs. Ching, “and I was filled with jov. There was not a tremor in my voice or my whole body. As I sang from the stage at the. request of Pastor Jefferies my voice filled the huge building, and everybody was delighted at the cure. We then sang ‘Praise God from Wihom All Blessings Flow.’ I then addressed the gathering, telling them of my experiences and sufferings.”