Miracle testimony story of Vera Strodel Dowling

Part 1

"I think I learned more about faith in God flying an airplane, than in a church pew, because you are alone flying the plane and there is no place to go for help but UP."   -  Vera Dowling

Many years ago, Germany's most famous poet Johann Goethe, stated, "We are shaped by what we love."

And you cannot be near Vera Dowling very long without discovering that she is a committed Christian, with a genuine love for Christ and her fellowman.  Vera Dowling's testimony exudes the grace, power and goodness of God, as well as His great compassion and care for us all.

Vera's relationship with Jesus Christ is so personal, deep and exciting that you can actually see how it has shaped her personality, character and style.

Speaking about the many times God has supernaturally delivered from from great danger and protected her from certain death, to this veteran pilot "knowing God" or "getting saved" sounds so natural and easy.

People who hear her speak want the same relationship with God that she has... and many have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour through her personal testimony, as well as public talks!

VERA'S SECOND LOVE IS FLYING!  And when Vera isn't instructing or flying, then Vera is talking about flying.

To Vera Dowling, flying an airplane is as natural as breathing, eating, sleeping, walking or praying.  When Vera speaks about her experiences in an airplane, it makes you want to take flying lessons and join her in the air.  She makes it look so simple and easy, and if she could do it - with the help of God and a lot of perseverance - then anybody can.

VERA IS A LIVING LEGEND

Vera Dowling was the first and only woman test pilot in World War II, and the first woman to fly a commercial charter airplane in Scandinavia.

Vera Dowling was the first woman in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve to lead a military flight formation over Bristol, Britain, and among the first 14 woman pilots selected to enter the Royal Air Force, and the first woman flying instructor in Alberta.

Without doubt, Vera Dowling is a living legend, still flying her airplane at 75 years of age...and looking like she's 15 years younger!

She criss-crosses continents to speak at aviation functions, church service or receive some distinguished award for her lifetime contribution to flying!  And Vera never tires of telling the story of God's blessing and mercy in her life.

Over the years, Vera Dowling has been interviewed by the press, but does so reluctantly because reporters eagerly tell her amazing story, but they often forget to report the most important part, the part about God.

This bothers Vera very much.  Vera Dowling wants God to get ALL THE GLORY!  God gave Vera the ability and God called Vera to be a pilot.

Vera Dowling wants the credit to go where it belongs - to Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ!

Vera Dowling tells her story very well.  Recently she spoke at a large Baptist Church and earlier at a Roman Catholic Convention, in Edmonton.  She often speaks in churches as diverse as Anglican and Pentecostal.

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION

Here are several interesting quotes from one of her memorable speeches.

"Once I was a passenger on a flight from Winnipeg to Edmonton.  When the Captain's name was announced, I almost fell off my seat.  I had been his training instructor 20 years earlier at the Edmonton Municipal Airport."

"He was a terrible student.  I would shed tears behind my dark glasses all around the airport.  And I would pray: 'Dear Lord, help - I have tried everything I know and I have prayed for this guy...BUT HE CAN'T FLY.:"

"I even jotted down this little prayer in my notebook, "LORD, IF THERE EVER WAS A HOPELESS CASE, THIS IS IT....HELP"!

"The Captain invited me up to the cockpit and with a big grin he said, "Well Vera...this is what I wanted."

"That episode taught me never to say that anyone is beyond hope.  The Lord Jesus specializes in hopeless cases.  There is hope for the hopeless...I know because I was one of them."

As a test pilot, Vera Dowling flew a specific same type of aero plane which was required by the British Army and the civilian aviation company she worked for, without instruments, radar or radio.  Time and time again Vera found herself hemmed in by cloud cover and fog, and as she called upon God for help, miracles would occur!

One of her many jobs was to ferry fighter planes, bombers and other aircraft for the Air Transport Auxiliary.  "We flew alone and couldn't use any instruments because we had no training.  We didn't have any radio.  We only had one person to talk to and that was God Himself, to get us out of any trouble":, says Vera.

"I was flying a 'fleet air arm fighter' when a severe "Atlantic Front" unexpectedly moved in on me.  Our weather experts had misjudged the terrific speed and magnitude of the storm by about 5 hours."

"My destination was Carlisle, but for safety's sake, I was following the coastline from Prestwick, when I met the 'front' - a solid wall of cloud, from the sea straight upwards."!

"I swung the craft around, TO NO AVAIL.  I thought, "I'll head south to the Isle-of-Man', but it was no use.  I WAS HEMMED IN ON ALL SIDES."

Searching desperately for a way out, Vera spotted a tongue of land which just as suddenly disappeared and then reappeared.  Her gas tank was hovering on empty.  She thought, "I'll land the plane on that tongue of land with the wheels up.  That way I'll be able to keep it right side up and stop in about 35 years by sliding on its tummy."

I'll let Vera tell the rest of this incredible, supernatural account.

SPOKEN BY VERA DOWLING: 

"Suddenly I was seized by the most terrible fear I had ever known.  I broke out in a icy cold sweat and my intestines seemed to be knotted in a horrible vise grip."

A BRIGHT LIGHT FILLED THE COCKPIT !

"I cried out, Lord help, and instantly the whole cockpit lit up with a bright, bright light and a beautiful, unexplainable peace came over me - so great that if I had to suffer through that terrifying ordeal again just to experience God's awesome peace, I would do so!

"Although I was flying so low that I could smell the salt spray from the waves, I couldn't see them.  Jesus knows how to calm the waves.  There I was, miles away from the coastline, with an empty gas tank, no radio and no earthly help, but I was totally calm, because of the incredible light which filled the cockpit and the peace that was engulfing my entire being!"

"Suddenly I heard Jesus speaking to me: "SLOW DOWN".  I saw my hands reaching down to lower the undercarriage. 'PUT A LITTLE FLAP DOWN' ... I could see myself responding still, in this 'beautiful peace.'.

"Then the Lord said, 'NOW TURN A LITTLE LEFT', and I turned left, 'STRAIGHTEN HER OUT', and I straightened her out ... and right in front of me was a runway!  And there was the black and white checkered box right on the side, which was used to give landing signals!

"I got a green and the wheels just touched - as if on silk - onto that runway...and it stopped!  And then suddenly that AWESOME, DIVINE PRESENCE - wherewith I could have flown the Atlantic without any instruments, even without an aero plane - lifted."

"That awesome presence was gone.  I pinched my arm and said in amazement, "I'M STILL ALIVE!  How odd.  I'm still here, and I'm on a runway."

"Outside my aero plane, the weather was so bad that I had to wait for it to clear - so that I could taxi to the control tower.  As I sat there on the runway, I said: "Well, thank you God.  Thank you Lord."

"The Control Tower operator was flabbergasted.  He exclaimed, "I DON'T UNDERSTAND...WE DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU WOMEN.  Five of our chaps with all the radio, radar and all the stuff on board and with an entire crew wouldn't fly in this, and you come in...beautiful approach...lovely landing...HOW DO YOU DO IT?"

And Vera Dowliing gave her first testimony for Jesus Christ "GIVE GOD THE GLORY"!

TESTIMONY OF VERA DOWLING

- Interview between CBC TV reported Grant Gelna, Edmonton and Vera Dowling (1993).

Gelina:  There wasn't usually woman pilots in WWII because it was dangerous for them.  It was really meant to protect them!

But that wasn't  about to stop Vera Dowling.  Today she is 75 years old.  When war broke out in 1939, Vera was an ambitious 21 year old in England training to be a pilot.  As a woman she couldn't join the Air Force so she worked as a civilian pilot shuttling planes from the factories to the front lines.  She had to quickly learn how to fly everything from spitfires to Lancaster bombers, sometimes from a manual read minutes before take-off.

Dowling: There was a moment that I didn't think I would make it, i wouldn't see the next day.

Gelina: :  Often she had to fly planes damaged in battle.

Dowling:  There were planes that came in shot to pieces and we had to pick them up and take them to the dump as it were, to be repaired or used as part.

Gelina: :  And then there was the seeming poor weather over most parts of England.  She's convinced her faith in God is what saved her like the time she went into a death spiral.

Dowling:  And I said, "O God, get me out of this mess and I will do anything for you.  I felt I had one chance and I wouldn't get a second chance.  And He righted it for me.  He actually did.  I saw the ground up here and it just straightened itself out."

Gelina:  It was all very daring and all for the war effort.  Only after the war did Vera see firsthand the devastation that the bombers made when she flew to Germany.

Dowling:  I felt sorry for the Germans.  I couldn't see a building standing.  It was all walls, walls - there was nothing whole, everything was demolished.

Gelina:  In war she was one of a few female pilots.  And today she remains the exception.  At age 75 she still has a pilot's license and she still flies.

Grant Gelina, CBC NEWS, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

- The following is contents of several TV interviews conducted by Max Solbrekken together with Vera Dowling.

Max Solbrekken:  Vera Dowling gives God all the glory as you've noticed on this clip from the CBC.  Even the announcer had to report that it was God who did the miracle.  And it's been that way in the life of Vera Dowling all these years.  Welcome Vera Dowling.  Welcome to the program 'Faith & Miracles'.

Vera Dowling: Thank you Max.  I really appreciate your being here and my being here so we can talk about it.

Max Solbrekken:   I wrote a column about you in an Edmonton newspaper sometime ago and I've gotten a lot of calls.  A lot of people are very, very interested in your extraordinary career and your tremendous faith in God.

And of course, while I was pastoring Faith Cathedral, you spoke at our church on numerous occasions and many people were blessed by God.

You have spoken in many churches and for many denominations, in a variety of venues for the past many years.  How does it feel being a living legend and knowing that God has kept you alive for this hour when you could be testifying for Him to all these people?

Vera Dowling:  I don't think I'm a legend.  I don't think I feel older than about 17 years old because even though the outward man perishes and I can see the wrinkles, the inward man is renewed day by day.  When people call me a legend, I don't feel old.  I still fly, I see the scenery and I still believe in God to get me on the ground.

But that's the miracle, being a legend and you're still young and you're still flying.  To see what God has done for you is absolutely extraordinary!

Max Solbrekken:   I want to ask you a question.  "When you went to get your commercial license just recently, you went to see the doctor and what happened?"

Vera Dowling:  Well, he asked me to explain why I had the blood pressure of a teenager.  So I believe this is what I said, "Jesus' salvation beautifies" or something like that.

Max Solbrekken:   You said 'Loving God' keeps you young.  I think that's what you told me.  And what did he say then"

Vera Dowling:  He didn't say anything.  He didn't say a thing.  Now I remember what I said, I said "Jesus Christ and His salvation".

Max Solbrekken:  You said, "Jesus Christ and His salvation" and didn't he make a comment?

Vera Dowling:  No.  He said nothing at all.

Max Solbrekken:   Nothing at all, and then you said something else - that your faith in God and the fact that God's love within your heart keeps you well, keeps you young.

Vera Dowling:  I remember him questioning me on something else, I think he was questioning my walk.  And I said, "Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  And I believe God and it's accounted to me for righteousness."

Max Solbrekken:  Vera, that's marvelous.  Let's get back to the very beginning when you started flying.  Let's get back to the beginning of your life because I was reading an old Oral Roberts comic which featured you and your story.  That was years and years ago.  Vera were you born in Denmark?

Vera Dowling: No, I was born in England.

Max Solbrekken:  Of course, you were born in England, of Danish parents.  You were actually an abused child or your father was quite mean to you.

Vera Dowling:  Well, he was an alcoholic later on.  And mother never accused my Dad.  My Mom used to say, "Children, forgive your Daddy because he's obsessed with something that he has no control over and don't hold it against him."

Max Solbrekken:  And that way, you grew up not hating your father.

Vera Dowling: Oh, I hated him, I really did.  I hated him until I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour.

Max Solbrekken:   How old were you when you accepted Christ?

Vera Dowling: 12 years of age.

Max Solbrekken:   And how did that happen?

Vera Dowling:  Well, we always heard the gospel at school - they'd read the scriptures and tell the stories - Old Testament and New Testament.

Max Solbrekken: This was in Great Britain?

Vera Dowling: It was north of London in Waltham Abbey area.  Upshire.

Max Solbrekken:  Things have sure changed, haven't they, in the schools?  Now they've taken God and the Bible out of the schools.  Prayer out of the schools.  But you know, I heard something recently that made me feel good.  Prime Minister John Major said that it's about time we brought God back into the schools.  And bring religion, morality into the schools.

VERA HEARD THE STORY OF JESUS

Vera Dowling:  And I heard the story of Jesus.  I heard how He was born in a manger and that's why we celebrate Christmas.  The story of Jesus' birth.  And how He walked on the earth, saving & healing people.  My mother used to say, "You know Jesus does the same today.  And if you're in trouble, you look to Him."  And I couldn't understand it.  And we celebrated not only at Easter time but we also celebrated the resurrected and the ascension of Jesus Christ.  It was very precious to us.

But there came a time when the kids teased me at school because of my Dad's condition.  And I was the youngest girl of a family of 5.  There were 3 girls and 2 boys.  They teased me about my clothes and after I ran all the way home to unload all my problems - with the children at school - onto my mother.

My mother put her hands to her ears and said, "Child, I won't listen to gossip.  If you have any problems, I won't listen to them because I can't solve them.  There's only one that can solve your problems and that's Jesus Christ.  You take your problems to Him."

I felt so devastated.  I felt that even my mother didn't care, so I ran away from home.  I didn't know where I was going - we lived in the country - and I ran and ran.  Finally, I sat down exhausted in the green grass and I looked up to God and I said, "God, my life is so miserable.  I want you to take me away."  And a light brighter than the sun just shone right on me.  I could see myself as if I were dressed in black.  My sin - I realized I wasn't ready to leave - it was exposed in just a minute.

Max Solbrekken:  And you were only 12 years of age?

Vera Dowling: Yes, just 12 years old.

Max Solbrekken: The Holy Spirit showed you the awfulness of sin and how God looks upon sin.

Vera Dowling:  And the next thing - it didn't frighten me - an inner voice said, "Fear not, for I am with you and you're going to be a pilot and fly airplanes.  But you must remember to love your enemies, to do good to those who hate you and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you."

And the light came right over me and it was as if I had shed those old garments of unrighteousness and blackness into brand new garments.  Everything looked new - the grass looked greener - the clouds looked whiter - the sky looked bluer.

The kids at school that I hated, now I love.  My Dad whom I hated so much, I now loved.  I loved everybody and I was so happy I just got up and went back to my mom.  And she said, "You've met with God, haven't you."  You see my mother knew.

Max Solbrekken:  She saw it immediately.  She sensed it.

Vera Dowling:  Yes, a transformation.

Max Solbrekken: : And your father must have noticed a change too.

Vera Dowling: Well, shortly after that, I was able to take my first joyous ride in an airplane on the Isle of Wight at a school outing.  I prayed very much that the weather would be suitable for us to fly an open air airplane.  It was a 504K.  I don't know if anyone remembers that type of airplane, but it was just 2 cockpits and the instructor or pilot sat in one and I in the other.  

I was so small I could just barely look over the side.  The pilot did a circuit but made an awful landing so he had to go around again.  And I thought "goodie, I get another circuit".  I didn't have the money to pay for the flight.  It was 5 shillings and I borrowed that money from the headmaster, because he saw I was so keen on going.  It took me 6 months of hard work in my Dad's nurseries to prepay the headmaster for that airplane ride.  But I didn't mind; I had fun.  And I patted the prop of that old airplane and I said to the pilot, "One of these days I'm going to fly one of these myself."

Four years later I was at the controls of an airplane at an airport not too far away from that particular one.  And before coming to Canada in 1952 I was chief flying instructor at the very same field where I'd taken my very first joyride.

Max Solbrekken:  The chief flying instructor?

Vera Dowling:  Yeah!

THE AMAZING VERA DOWLING STORY
PART II

Max Solbrekken:  God spoke to Vera at the age of 12 when she accepted Christ and poured her heart out to the Lord. When she met Jesus Christ, God said to her: "It's going to be all right". All of her sins were taken away. All the guilt was removed. Every burden was lifted. And God said, "You must love those who hate you and those who persecute you, and you're going to be a pilot". He said that to her at the age of 12 and at the age of 16 she was flying. That’s a miracle!

Max Solbrekken:  And incidentally this report states: "Vera Dowling was the one and only test pilot in World War II and the first woman to fly for a commercial airline in Scandinavia. And Vera Dowling was the first woman in the Royal Air Force to lead a military flight formation over Bristol in England. Was among the first 14 woman pilots selected to enter the Royal Air Force and was the first woman flying instructor in Alberta."  Is that right?

Vera Dowling:  There's a little error there. In Scandinavia I was flying commercially. We had airline transport licenses but I didn't fly the airline. I flew charter lines, yes, but not airline, you know scheduled flights. I want to make that clear.

Max Solbrekken:  Okay, you flew charter but you were the first commercial charter.

Vera Dowling:  Little charters, yes. With about 8 passengers or so.

Max Solbrekken:  Okay. Your mother didn't want you to become a pilot?

Vera Dowling: Oh she did, she had no objection.

Max Solbrekken:   Where did the opposition come from then?

Vera Dowling:  Oh, I confronted my Dad and he asked me what I wanted for my Birthday. And I said I wanted a flight in an airplane. And he jokingly said, I will just get some coke and some fireworks and put you on top of it (coke being the stuff they burn in furnaces) and then you will go straight up and that will be your flight. And I thought that was cruel because I was serious and he wasn't. But the rest of the family, my aunts, my uncles, they told me it was ridiculous and it wasn't for women to start with.

Max Solbrekken:  And that the devil was the prince of the power of the air!

Vera Dowling:  Exactly. And if I flew I would be in a league with that guy, yes.

Max Solbrekken:   But God had said, "Vera you will fly airplanes."

Vera Dowling:  Exactly.

Max Solbrekken:  : Let's go back to your flying. Let's talk about your first job. What happened? How did it start?

Vera Dowling:  My first job? The home broke up first of all and mother took us to her parents home in Denmark. We had very little money and the shipbuilder came over and said, "Is there any one of the children who can interpret English to Danish and vice versa?" And mother said, "Well, Vera is at home."  I was 14 at the time and I was taken out to this huge boat and I had to say what the pilot said to the Captain. And the Captain would give his orders to the men to get between the sandbars.

Max Solbrekken:  You were then in Denmark!

Vera Dowling:  I was in Denmark

Max Solbrekken:   You were born in England of Danish parents. You were bilingual. You grew up bilingual.

Vera Dowling:  Yes.

Max Solbrekken:  And so now, you are back in Denmark with your mother.

Vera Dowling:  Yes, at a little place called Bogense.

Max Solbrekken:  So you got the job as an interpreter for this barge captain.

Vera Dowling: Yes, and one early morning I wasn't really awake and it was foggy and I got my port and starboard mixed. The port is the left side and starboard is the right side when you face the front of the ship. And the big ship turned the wrong way and headed right into a sand bar and keeled right over. And the ship's captain was furious. I have never heard such language as came from him. In short, I was fired. Now, this was after I made a mistake several times!

And mother had taught me not to take my problems to her. Therefore, I went down to the bottom of the garden where there was a nice little rose tree. I knelt down and prayed and I said, "Oh Lord, what do I do now?" And He replied immediately. He said, "Go to England in April."

I jumped up, went to mother and mother looked at me and said, "Yes child?" And I said, "Mother, I'm going to England in April."  And she came back with the funniest answer that a mother could ever tell a 14 year old child. She said, "Don’t let me stop you. If God wants you to leave, you leave. But I will be praying for you."  And it was just as if her two big brown eyes were following me wherever I went. I couldn't get into trouble because my mother was praying for me.

Max Solbrekken:   You were then 14 years of age?

Vera Dowling: Yes, somewhere in there. It was in 1934.

Max Solbrekken:   And so what happened then?

 Vera Dowling:  I  went to England alone on a boat that crosses the North Sea. A gentleman asked me if he could hold my handbag? And I said, "Oh sure." And there was my passport and everything I owned in it.  As I was going downstairs, it hit me: "Perhaps he won't give me my bag back with all my papers in it." There was no problem because he did. He was very nice. And when I got to London and saw all the crowds of people, I felt very lonely. I have never, ever felt so lonely as I did in that crowd. Loneliness doesn't come from the people that you’re surrounded by.

LONELINESS COMES WHEN YOU’RE NOT FOCUSED ON JESUS CHRIST, because when I'm up in an airplane alone, I never feel alone. He's always with me. The Holy Spirit is with you, you're not alone. I have a job to understand Christians that say they feel alone, because I never feel alone!

Max Solbrekken:   Now, you arrived in England and went to work, I believe, in a restaurant.

Vera Dowling:  Yes, down in Hastings. But at the beginning, I got a job as a waitress in a little back street cafe. And after 3 days I was fired. I was told I wasn't called to be a waitress. So I walked the streets looking for a job. And I got so far down that I did not have money for a postage stamp, and I was too proud to write home. I wouldn't have been able to anyway, because I didn't have a postage stamp!

One day I saw an ad in a window. It said, 'DISHWASHER WANTED'. And I thought, I'll go in there for a job. The lady looked at my European clothes and she looked at me and said, "I've got just the job for you, scrubbing floors in the kitchen". So I thought, "Any job is better than no job". And I say the same to people today!

I got the job, and had to scrub a concrete floor spotlessly clean in the stench of that kitchen. It was awful. I had to carry two big boxes with the clean dishes up the stairs, and down with the dirty ones.

But, I always had a smile on my face and people would say, "What are you so happy about?" I always answered, "I'm just getting set so I can fly an airplane". And I didn't see daylight, apart from going up and down, the first few months we spent down in the kitchen. We never saw daylight, except for a grating where the sun came through at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I remember reaching up my hand and saying, "Oh God, give me the sun". And now I have so much sun I have to wear sunglasses almost all of the time.

Max Solbrekken:  Then you advanced to being a waitress?

Vera Dowling: Yes, I progressed to becoming a waitress. I saved the tips and it worked out that I had to work from 7 in the morning till 11 at night with half a day off each week. And within 2 weeks I could afford 20 minutes flying instruction.

Max Solbrekken:  So you financed this 'instruction time' with your wages as a waitress?

Vera Dowling: Yes.

Max Solbrekken:   20 minutes once a week.

Vera Dowling:   It took me 2 years to gain a pilot's license.

Max Solbrekken:  But as a dishwasher, as a waitress, as a floor scrubber, you earned the money to learn to fly.

Vera Dowling:  And, if the weather was bad one week, I saved the money for the following week and that gave me 40 minutes of flying time!

Max Solbrekken:   You got your wings in 1935?

 Vera Dowling: No, no. I started learning to fly in 1935 but it took me two years so I was 17. I was really 15 if you looked at my age on the calendar, but you weren't allowed to fly a plane if you were under 17.

Max Solbrekken:  So, in 1937 you got your license - two years before the war started?

Vera Dowling:  They didn't let you take passengers until you had 20 hours of flying alone in the airplane. And I remember the first time I was allowed to go more than 3 miles away from the airport. And I climbed out of the cloud through a hole and I flew over the cloud. I wanted to see where I had worked so hard, to get this treasured certificate. And it cleared and I saw a flying boat under me and I looked down and I thought, "My it’s nice to be up here".

And I circled around, went back and I thought that I would find the same hole in the cloud that I had climbed up through. It was gone. So, I found a hole but it wasn'’t the same one. And I unwound and happily so, it took me to the airport. I came in and good for me I made a beautiful landing, but the instructor was furious. He was so mad. He said, "You have no business to climb up through holes and fly above cloud. You could get yourself into serious trouble."   And how I know that. I was suspended for 3 months for that.

Max Solbrekken:  I believe that in one of your speeches, you said that your instructor wouldn't go up with you because your landings were so bumpy but years later when you were invited to London to receive a prestigious award, he accompanied you. And he called that experience the greatest day of his life!

Vera Dowling: That's right.

Max Solbrekken:  Tell us about that.

Vera Dowling::  Well, I didn't understand the language of flying. There's a certain language that all aviators have to learn. So I didn’'t quite comprehend what he was saying. He sat in front, I sat behind, what was called a gosport tubing to our ears and to our helmets so we could hear. And he forgot he had a woman at the back and he used the most awful language. And I made the most bouncy landings because I couldn't seem to see around his head.

One day earlier I was flying very terribly and the grass had grown about a foot from the ground. And when I felt the wheels skim the weeds, I knew it was time to land. Then they went and cut the grass and I couldn't land.

Max Solbrekken:   IT WAS LIKE THE CLOUD - THE HOLE YOU WENT THROUGH - AND NOW YOU LOOKED FOR THE GRASS!

Vera Dowling: Yes, I was looking in the wrong direction all the time. And so I think he got mad and he said, "Be careful because if you throttle back too much, the engine might stop."  I was so happy to get rid of my instructor that time.

Max Solbrekken:  You forgot what he said; you disobeyed orders!

Vera Dowling:  I disobeyed orders on the first circuit. I throttled all the way back and the prop stopped. The engine stopped and the prop stopped. I thought, "I’m too low, no I'm too high, no I'm too low. I think I might just make it. No, I'm too low."  I landed exactly in the little circle that determines the centre of the airport.

Max Solbrekken:  AND ISN'T IT TRUE THAT SOME AVIATION BRASS WERE THERE AND WANTED YOU TO DO THAT AGAIN?

Vera Dowling:: No, that wasn't then. This was when I was first flying. You're thinking about when I was test flying.

Max Solbrekken:  Tell us about that! THAT WAS EXTRAORDINARY!

Vera Dowling:: Yeah, when I was test flying we had to demonstrate a unique little airplane that the army required for short landing so they could let off passengers without a parachute while they were still flying low against the wind. And I had been practicing up fairly high. 

I had been doing loops and a few spins and deep turns. I thought, well you have to do aerobatics low down to be appreciated so I thought 1500 ft was just about the right height to start my loop. There was all the army lined up watching me. And they had a shaved portion of grass, just room enough for the airplane to land and stop on that is how they based their competition.

And I dived down in order to increase my speed and power to come up over the loop, and it hung there upside down. It wasn't designed to fly upside down, so the engine stopped. The prop stopped and everything fell to the ceiling and I was flying upside down. I moved the controls and nothing happened, absolutely nothing. I was just losing altitude upside down, and I just had a little stomach strap that was holding me in and I said, "Oh Lord, what do I do now?" And He said, "Why don't you put the control column hard over to the right."

I put the control column hard over to the right and it just flipped up at 400 feet off the ground. And technically it cannot be done. Technically, to go from upside down with little speed like that...you need speed in order to do a slow roll and I didn't have it.  So I believe that God from the portals of Heaven. He looked over the side and said, "Angels, Vera's in trouble down there."  And they flew down and fixed the airplane. I actually believe that!

Max Solbrekken:  AND YOU LANDED ON THAT VERY SPOT!

 Vera Dowling: The very spot. I think the Lord landed on that spot. I don't remember doing anything.

Max Solbrekken:   And the Army Brass & spectators thought that you had purposely done these tricks?

Vera Dowling::  Yeah, and the army threw their hats in the air. The ladies did likewise with their handbags and they said they had never seen such an amazing exhibition of inverted flying in all their lives. Do you know, I had to quit that job before they found me out...that what they thought was my good flying was really my bad flying.

Max Solbrekken:   AND IT WAS A MIRACLE OF GOD...SAVING YOUR LIFE!

Vera Dowling:  Yeah, saving my reputation too!

Max Solbrekken:   I wrote in a column in the Edmonton Seniors some time ago about some of your experiences. You had an extraordinary experience when you were ferrying an airplane and I believe that you hit some terrible weather and God miraculously brought you through it.

It was a miracle and God actually spoke to you! A storm had come up more quickly than your weather people had anticipated, and you were caught in the middle of it. Tell us about that!

Vera Dowling: Well I should tell the other story first but I can come back to that. I had vowed I would never get myself into bad weather because I had a terrible experience before that really shook me.

Max Solbrekken:   WELL, LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT ONE FIRST.

Vera Dowling:  Yes, I had been at the Air Force station and the weather was bad. We could fly even though we had limited vision - only across the airport and no flying instruments. We had no radio. We were not allowed to use the radio because of the war. We just ferried airplanes, as it were by the seat of the pants and by what we saw on the ground. And the visibility was very poor!

Max Solbrekken:   And these airplanes you ferried, were they only damaged airplanes?

Vera Dowling: No, not always. Sometimes they were new, brand new.

Max Solbrekken:   But you'd bring them from point A to point B. From where did you ferry them?

Vera Dowling:  From factories to maintenance units, to where the pilots needed them. And then we'd take the old shot-up ones, damaged ones to what we termed 'graveyards' to be broken up for parts or repairs.

Max Solbrekken:  Okay, and then this awesome thing happened in a totally impossible situation in bad weather?

Vera Dowling: Well, I took off because I was too uncomfortable where I was. I took off, but I probably shouldn't have. I got myself between mountains in the Penign Chain and suddenly I lost sight of the ground. And I tried the best I knew how, to climb above what I thought were clouds. Now, that’s a no-no. Good pilots don't do that, so I'm not a good pilot as you can see.

And suddenly those controls were just wrenched out of my hands and my first thought was "hit the silk" and leave it, but I was only 1000 feet up when it went out of control. One thousand feet, and suddenly the ground appeared up here and down there was clouds and stuff.

Well, as soon as I saw the ground my hands went back on the controls. I came out of the dive and do you know I got up to 1500 feet which isn't very high but it was 500 feet higher than I was before. And it slowly became lighter as I almost broke the crust of cloud. I just wanted to get above so I could get a horizon as a reference point to fly on.

And I was a little too anxious and those controls were ripped out of my hands and I saw my milky past blow up at me in one split second. I believe we have to stay consecrated to the Lord every day. It's a day at a time. You're not in prison, you're a prisoner of Jesus Christ. And that's nice because you have someone to go to all the time. But I said, "Lord, get me out of this mess, and I will do anything for you".

Max Solbrekken:  Your plane was totally out of control?

Vera Dowling: TOTALLY, IT WAS IN A DEATH SPIRAL!

Max Solbrekken:  : A death spiral had begun!

Vera Dowling: At 1500 feet in a twin engine airplane. And if I'd had to leave with a silk, a parachute, I would have had to undo my harness, walk to the back, get the door and jump. There wasn't time for that, so I thought I'll just stay here.

AND SUDDENLY THE GROUND APPEARED UP HERE AND I THINK I SKIMMED TREES BY INCHES. I WAS SURE THAT THERE WERE PINE NEEDLES UNDERNEATH THE FUSELAGE, AND SOMEHOW THE LORD STRAIGHTENED IT UP FOR ME.

And I had a choice to make, to fly north into the mountains again or south into the Birmingham balloons. I chose the balloons, and right in front of me there was a balloon table. Some of them had charges on them so if you hit them, you exploded. And I made a big steep, screaming turn around, I followed a railway line and came to a airport called Litchfield and a little voice said to me - I know it was the Lord - said:

"Now don't forget your undercarriage and don't forget your flaps and don't get in a flap."

I circled for quite a time to recompose myself and came in and landed. I went straight up to the weather office and I said, "What's all this weather?"  And they said, "Well, the temperature and dew are quite close together and you get fog and what can you expect. But don't worry, the sun's getting up and the fog will clear in about 20 to 40 minutes."

Do you know in 40 minutes I was back up in that airplane and delivered it up in Carlyle. I went slow underneath the lifting cloud, but if I had never stepped in an airplane then, I would have never flown again because I was terrified.

Max Solbrekken:   YOU WERE TERRIFIED! And it wasn't long after, when you had a terrible experience of the weather moving in on you again. Tell us about that, because that is one of the greatest stories of God's grace I've ever heard!

Vera Dowling:  Well, this was God's grace also. I said, "Lord I never want to get myself into that mess again."  I promised myself. And about three weeks later there I was at the controls of a fleet air fighter and I was following the coastline around from Preswick because I didn't want to get caught in the mountains, in the valleys again, like I had previously.  So I followed the coast. They had told me that in about 5 hours a front was coming in. Therefore, I thought I had plenty of time to go around and deliver my airplane.

AND SUDDENLY, I WAS CONFRONTED WITH A WALL OF CLOUDS COMING FROM THE SEA, RIGHT UP TO 20, 30, 40,000 FEET. I turned around to go back like a good pilot should and there was another wall of clouds right in front of me. It was impossible to get through! And I went lower and lower to try to keep below this cloud. I thought, well it's open to the south so I'll go to the Isle of Man. As I turned around to go to the Isle of Man I met another wall of cloud!

Max Solbrekken:   YOU WERE HEMMED IN ON ALL SIDES?

 Vera Dowling: Absolutely. You see, a front doesn't come as a straight line like they draw on a map. It comes more like an army marches in a front. And then it mops you up when they meet and that's what happened that day. I managed to get back to the coastline of Scotland and it's all rocks; there's no sand. It's important to land there, but I saw this little eddy of land and I thought I would land with the wheels up. A fighter will pull up in about 35 yards with its wheels up. But then, it was Scotland...rocks, that would just tear the airplane apart.

I CHECKED THE FUEL AND IT WAS HOVERING ON EMPTY, AND I WAS SEIZED WITH THE MOST AWFUL FEAR I HAVE EVER RECALLED. COLD PERSPIRATION TEEMED OFF MY BROW. MY HANDS WERE CLAMMY WITH PERSPIRATION AND MY INTESTINES FELT LIKE THEY WERE TWISTED IN A VICE. AND I REALIZED I HAD NO HOPE APART FROM GOD.

And I remember that little story in the Bible where Jesus was asleep on a pillow and the disciples were afraid because the waves were coming in the boat and they woke Him and He said, "Where is your faith"? And He just stretched out His hand and commanded the water to be still. And the waves were actually still.

I said, "Oh God, help"! And the whole cockpit lit up with a bright light. A brilliant light. It was just like that same light I had seen when I was 12 years of age and made my first decision for Christ. The same light. And that beautiful peace of His love came over me!.

Max Solbrekken:  In the middle of this most trying moment!

Vera Dowling: Yes, there He was. And I felt that peace, I couldn't see the wing tip, the weather was so bad I couldn't see the wing tip. Occasionally I lost sight of the sea and I could smell the salt spray off the waves. But my faith was so great that I felt I could fly the Atlantic without an airplane at all, you know.

IT WAS EXTRAORDINARY, AND HIS VOICE SPOKE TO ME. He said, "Now slow down a bit. Slow down. Now increase your revs". I increased the revs. I saw my hand move around the cockpit as if just directed, without any senses up here. And He said, "Now lower your flap, now lower your undercarriage. Now you can put all your flap down. Now turn a little to the left."

Max Solbrekken:   WAS THIS AN AUDIBLE VOICE OR WAS IT IN YOUR SPIRIT?

Vera Dowling:  It was more in my spirit than it was an audible voice.

Max Solbrekken:  A voice spoke to you?

Dowling:  Yes, it was so plain, very plain, as if I'd heard it through earphones, you know. And then in front of me was a checkered box and a runway. And the black and white checkered box at that time was the approach end of an active runway in use. And that airplane just glided in and the wheels touched just as if on silk. It didn't bounce or anything. IT SLID IN AND STOPPED AND I COULDN'T SEE ACROSS THE RUNWAY.

I couldn't see to taxi and that divine presence - it just lifted  - you know like it didn't go away but it just lifted. And I thought, "I'm not dead, I'm alive" and I pinched myself to prove that I was still there. "Thank God I'm still here."  And suddenly an airplane shot across on the other runway -  the non-active runway - a big airplane, and I could see across the airport.

I taxied up and walked over to the tower and the first thing they said was: "We don't understand you women. You come in perfect, in this. Most of our chaps won't fly in this weather and you come in, no trouble at all. No radio, radar and the whole bag of tricks. How do you do it?"

And it was my first testimony for the Lord. I said, "Give God the glory."

Max Solbrekken:   But Vera, you didn't do it at all. It was God that did it!

Vera Dowling:  Exactly! I had to land as a passenger in an airplane with only one human person in it.

Max Solbrekken:   Vera, what a testimony!

We are here with Vera Dowling. Vera Dowling the aviator, the pilot and the missionary.

VERA DOWLING IS A 
LIVING LEGEND!
PART III

Max Solbrekken:   Vera Dowling was the first and only woman test pilot in World War II and the first woman to fly a chartered airline. Vera Dowling was the first woman in the Royal Air Force voluntary reserve to lead a military flight formation over Bristol in England. She was among the first 14 women pilots selected to enter the Royal Air Force in Britain and was the first woman flying instructor in Alberta. A living legend and she gives God all the glory.

Max Solbrekken: They asked you, how did you do it? But you weren'tt the one.

Vera Dowling:  No, as we mentioned earlier, at the age of twelve God said, "You’re going to be a pilot and fly airplanes."  I had no particular ambition as to what to do but I would just take the job that was going, and I had no ambition neither to be famous or do anything spectacular. My ambition actually was to write advertisements in the air, in smoke. They used to write them and I'd never done it.

Max Solbrekken:: The thing you wanted to do you haven't done, but you've been flying airplanes all over the world. Please tell the folks about the time you were sitting on an airplane and they announced the name of the captain. You were invited up to the cockpit and of course, he was one of your former students!

 Vera Dowling: Yes, that episode really taught me something because some people they say are born to fly and are 'naturals of sorts'. But, this particular student was very difficult. He'd been passed down to me, to fix the situation and I remember going around the circuit shedding tears behind my dark glasses because he didn't seem to have it. I wrote a little note to myself afterwards saying, "Oh Lord if ever there's a hopeless case, this is it. Please help."

And 20 years later I was on a flight as a passenger from Winnipeg to Edmonton and the captain's name was announced and who do you think it should be?

Max Solbrekken: THE HOPELESS CASE!

Vera Dowling:  And I gave the air hostess a note for the captain. I was invited up front and he said, "This is what I wanted, Vera/" And it taught me something, Pastor Max. It taught me that you should never, ever call anyone hopeless! There are really no hopeless cases, because I was a hopeless case.

And as far as seemingly hopeless cases, Jesus can fix them all because He specializes in 'Hopeless Cases'!

Max Solbrekken:  You've received a lot of AWARDS. And I believe there was an award given to you, which included an all expense paid trip to London, England and your former instructor accompanied you to a grand banquet with royalty, military & nobility in attendance! And this was the man who thought you were a hopeless case when you were first learning to fly!

WHAT WAS THAT AWARD?

Vera Dowling:  It was an award for outstanding service in the field of aviation, an award of merit. It was a huge medal.

Max Solbrekken: And you were the first Canadian to receive this award?

Vera Dowling: Yes, I was the ninth in aviation history!

Max Solbrekken:: THE NINTH IN AVIATION HISTORY AND THE FIRST FROM CANADA. IT'S AMAZING. YOU WERE THE FIRST WOMAN INSTRUCTOR IN ALBERTA!

Vera Dowling: So I understand!

Max Solbrekken:  And how many students have you had over the years?

Vera Dowling:: I've never counted them. You see, you sometimes start a student or finish a student or teach him in the middle of his course, but you don't follow him all the way through. No, I don't think any one instructor can boast about having any number of students and having taught them how to fly.

Max Solbrekken: You were in Lethbridge, working there and something happened. You lost your job because you were teaching or telling your students about Jesus. And then. shortly thereafter, you got a much better at NAIT in Edmonton.

Vera Dowling:  Yes.

Max Solbrekken: Please share with us how you were BORN AGAIN and how you were filled with the HOLY SPIRIT. This is so important, so that people will know about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Vera, I'd like to hear this portion of your testimony!

Vera Dowling: Well, when I first arrived at Lethbridge, to start a new job, the weather was bad every Sunday for about 5 weeks running. And flying instructors make the most money on Sundays when people have time to learn to fly. And the manager came to me and he banged his fist on the table saying, "Vera, you're not living right. You're a Jonah. And we've got to start sending you to church."

So all the students, about 25 of them, came along and they said, "You must come to my church, you must come to my church, you must come to my church."  And we did all the denominations, about 14 in all.

Max Solbrekken: You went to all the churches?

Vera Dowling: Yes, I accepted their invitations and attended them all. But the students  - we had sort of an afterglow sitting in front of a glowing fireplace at the club. And the manager came up and he said, "Well, what was the text? What did you hear? What did you learn? He didn't come with us to church but he wanted to know."

Max Solbrekken:  He wanted to know?

Vera Dowling:  Yeah, he wanted to know what we'd learned. And I found out that the students wanted to know the living Christ Who could help them in the air, Who could save their souls, Who could be their friend and be the power in their lives that they needed to protect them during all types of weather in flying. And we all came to the same conclusion -  we wanted to know the Lord better!

When I left England, I came over by boat to Halifax, and took the exams in Ottawa. Then I journeyed on to Medicine Hat and the manager picked me up to go to Lethbridge.

And I prayed, "Lord I promised you that I would read Your Word at least once before I died and I will. This is a new country and I'll make a brand new start."

So I bought a little Bible and I started reading it from Genesis, diligently word by word. I didn't understand a word of it. It was all very complicated with lots of names and things but I saw a thread of red run all through the Bible - the blood of Christ. And I saw the miracles but I didn't understand it although I was brought up in a faith believing home. 

Mother always asked us to look to the Lord, and we had many, really big miracles in our home. So I believed in the power of God but not many of the churches that I went to ever expressed God's power today. And I was surprised!

I even went back to a church that claimed they knew the Lord and His power and as they were leaving church one said, "I’ve got a headache and the other one said I've got an aspirin.". And I thought, they believe in God. It surprised me, I was always taught to get on my knees if I needed something from the Lord.

But I searched diligently and there was one particular church that I went to and the preacher, he didn't preach from notes. He just opened his Bible and preached. But the surprising part of it was that every word that he said, I was absolutely sure that everybody who knew me had written little notes to the preacher and he had compiled his sermon from these little notes. And he didn't leave out a thing. And he said, some people open their hymn books to give God the glory, they open their mouths but no sound comes out. Hypocrites.

AND HE LOOKED STRAIGHT AT ME AND IT WAS ME!

I  wanted to sing but I was too shy. I was so shy I didn't have the boldness to read in public or to give a proper testimony or do anything for the Lord. Or something like that. 

I had even been invited in England to speak as a test pilot, to speak to 200 or 300 people or so at a hotel. And I prepared my speech, I had written it out, I knew exactly what I was going to say. I stood up there, said two words, burst into tears and sat down. I couldn't say a word. I mean that's how shy I was.

With students I was fine because that was a one on one basis, but to stand up in front of a crowd, I couldn't do it. And when he talked about some people opening their mouths and no sound coming out, it just hit me that that sermon was just for me. In fact every word of that sermon hit me. And I thought, that usher is standing behind me and he's listened to me, and he hears that I am not singing even though I am mouthing the words. And he's told the pastor.

And at the close of the service, they had a baptismal service there by the way. FOR THE FIRST TIME I SAW THEM DUNKED IN WATER, HAIR AND ALL, TOTALLY IMMERSED. AND I HADN'T SEEN THAT BEFORE. Oh sure, I had been dunked in the waters at Lourdes, when I went down to Lourdes on a flight. I did it because all the Catholics asked me to go and I didn't feel any different when I came up, I'm sad to say but I did not see miracles. There was something missing!

But this seemed different somehow. So I went down to the basement to get cleaned up and a little lady approached me. She was about 5'2" and she looked straight up into my face and said, "Sister, have you received your baptism yet?" I looked at her and I was angry.

Max Solbrekken: You were angry because you thought the pastor was preaching to you and now she came to confront you?

Vera Dowling:  So I said, "How am I to know"? She said, "My dear, when you seek God with all your heart."  And I said to myself, I've been seeking Him with all my heart. I'm praying my prayers. I'm doing my best. I'm reading my Bible. I'm going to church services. She said, "When you seek God with all your heart, He will reveal Himself to you in a very special way. You will feel your jaws beginning to move and you will be speaking in another language."

How peculiar, how very odd. And I was more furious than ever. And I packed my things and went away to the hostel. I stayed at the airport hostel and the walls had ears, you know they were thin plywood. And I got on my knees and I said, "Lord". And suddenly all the scenes that God had done for me, they came before me. 

And I said, "Those people in that church Lord, they treat me as if I don't know You Jesus. I don't know what's wrong with them there and as for that pastor, all those nasty things he was saying about me in public, in front of that huge congregation."  I said, "Would you please forgive him Lord. I'm sure he didn't mean it."

And then I had nothing more to say so kneeling at my bed, I prayed the Lord's Prayer. I had said it many times before but this was possibly the first time in my entire life that I had PRAYED the Lord's Prayer!

I said, "My Father", and I felt that He was my Father. And I said, "Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come". And I was wishing that His kingdom would come. "And Thy will be done." 

As soon as I said that and meant it in my heart, my hands burned like coals of fire. And my soul felt as if it was locked up as if it needed to be swung open. And suddenly it hit me in the pit of my stomach and the locked gates they swung open and rivers of living water came down from the throne of God and wiped out all that contamination that had been built up over the years.

And I heard myself speaking in another language that I didn't understand. And I realized it was my soul, my spirit that was talking to God. And I was talking and talking to God all night and I had scenes and revelations and visions. I had a vision of Jesus Christ. I was taken back 2000 years and I saw Him on the cross. And no description or painting or statue will ever be the same as what I saw. 

Our Lord was ribboned through His flesh and the blood ran from the crown of thorns out and His eyes were filled with love. The love oozed out of His beautiful eyes. And He looked at me and I saw the billows of the blood of Jesus coming over my soul. And I saw the resurrection and the power of God! But, there is no description in the Bible that I can read except the one in Isaiah 52 where it says He "was marred more than any man".

And suddenly the scriptures opened themselves and they became as clear as crystal. They became alive and clear and up to date. And I realized right there Pastor Max that if I had studied the Bible for 50 years, if I had learned it word for word by heart, if I had recited it word for word I wouldn't understand it.

It has to be the Spirit of God who opens your understanding. And He opened my understanding and I could read the Bible!

Max Solbrekken: The natural man understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are spiritually discerned. That's why these theologians, liberal theologians  - like the Jesus Seminar - discredit & discount the Word of God.

Those PhD's do not know Jesus. If they knew Him like you know Him, if they saw a vision of Him like you did, if they would be filled with the Holy Spirit, then suddenly the scripture would come alive. Because you see, Jesus said, "You know not the day of your visitation". They didn't realize who He was when He stood before them.

AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED? YOU CONTINUED ALL NIGHT LONG PRAISING & MAGNIFYING GOD IN TONGUES?

Vera Dowling:  Yes, all night long and it was beautiful. I laughed in the Spirit. I was talking directly to my Father. I mean, I really was. And I saw the scenes before me of masses of people, they were crippled and blind and so on. And I realized that Jesus heals today!

AND THEN I HAD ANOTHER VISION! I saw a vast field of grain. It looked like ripened wheat, as far as the eye could see. And I looked and looked and looked and when I looked closely, the wheat had faces. They were people! They were people! The harvest is ripe. I prayed that the Lord of the harvest would then thrust us into his field. And I had such joy and yet in my body I was tired, but my mind became ultra alert.

People say, well you probably went out and you drank. No, I did not. I was fully awake. I was fully alert, I knew what was going on. And my mind was clear as crystal. In the morning a student came up to me and he stood back and said, "What has happened to you"?

I said, "Why"? He said, "You look 20 years younger and your face is shining". And then the manager came up and he said, "You've got to take a class tonight". And I said, What me? I teach people individually but not as a mass. He said, "YES AND THEY ARE R.A.F. (Royal Air Force) PILOTS FROM WORLD WAR II", and he gave me a subject over which I knew very little. I said, "Lord, please help". 

And I went to the lecture and the students said they had never heard a lecture so brilliant and so plain, and it even surprised myself. But that's what the Lord does for you. He carries you on your job or wherever you are, and I was amazed at every lecture. I SAID A SHORT PRAYER AND THE LORD WAS ALWAYS WITH ME TO TELL THE STUDENTS EXACTLY WHAT WAS NEEDED. And I could more or less read what they wanted in the classroom so I’d say, "You are thinking this and the answer is this."  They'd say, "How did you know"?

Max Solbrekken: And when you looked at yourself in the mirror at that time, you did look 20 years younger. All of that weight had fallen off!

Vera Dowling:: Overnight. All the strains, all the wrinkles. The strain of World War II. Remember I had experienced 6 years of war, hiding in holes, little rations, barely any sleep. Being trapped in bombings and passing through "a burning London" and flying those military airplanes just on the edge of eternity all the time and SEEING 20 PER CENT OF OUR PILOTS NOT COMING BACK, mostly because of bad weather. 

And we always thought "Well, I'll be the next one,"   And the Lord had guided me all the way through, and the Bible is very precious to me. I HAVE LITERALLY WORN OUT 7 BIBLES. I am very hard on Bibles. I've worn out 7 Bibles!

Max Solbrekken: And Vera, you are 76 years of age in July of this year. (1994)

Vera Dowling:  Yes.

Max Solbrekken: Hallelujah. And you only look about 59.

Vera Dowling:: Oh well, that's God. He said He would beautify the meek with salvation!

Max Solbrekken:  To God be the glory, great things He hath done! Ladies and gentlemen, we have been talking to Vera Dowling. An extraordinary person because she serves the Living God and because she's been filled with the Holy Spirit. And of course my background being Lutheran and Vera, your background also Lutheran and both of us filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking with other tongues, baptized with the Holy Ghost.

I want to tell you something my precious friend, if you want power with God, you must receive the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. And if you want some literature on the Blessed Holy Spirit, we will be glad to send you some. Just write to us:

Max Solbrekken: Vera, this has been extraordinary. Thank you!

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