It was the summer of 1971. The young aspiring evangelist Svein-Magne was midway through his four years of theological study, and the longing to see God do miracles had been awakened in him in the spring of that year. He and Solveig were newlyweds, and in the summer they visited her family in Mosjøen. Family and friends gathered for social visitation, when Svein-Magne asked Solveig if there was anyone he could pray for, eager as he was in getting started in the service for The Lord. She suggested that he could ask her younger sister Grethe, who had flat feet.
-I remember being perplexed when he wanted to pray for my feet, but I said it was okay, because I did not want to be rude, Grethe says, 40 years later.
-It was not like I didn't believe in miracles and wonders. I grew up with Sunday school and church life, and I had no problem with believing that God did miracles in Africa. But to think that it would happen in Mosjøen, and with myself, I was one hundred light years from thinking. I was fully convinced that I had to live with my flat feet for the rest of my life.
Donald Duck feet
Many have heard Svein-Magne tell about his sister-in-law with Donald Duck feet that were flat as an iron. She agreed that her feet could be described that way.
-My ankles were touching the floor, she says.
-Throughout my childhood, my shoes were always worn down almost as soon as they were purchased, and I often had pain in my legs. I sprained my feet often, and I therefore had difficulties participating in ball games, running fast or jumping length, she said.
In her adolescent years her back started getting tired and sore.
-As a teenager, I had the same problems with my back that old women often have.
When she was 19 years old, she had her first child, and she was very much troubled with pain in her legs and back during her pregnancy. It was shortly after this that she got the unexpected question from her brother-in- law about receiving prayer.
My feet came towards me
Svein-Magne knelt down and placed his hands on my feet, and I was really embarrassed, because I had never liked focus on myself. Suddenly I saw that his hands started to turn upwards, and I felt my feet coming toward me. It was like a successive pressure, and it lasted for a maximum of five minutes. When I got up afterwards, I had gotten great arches under my feet. I was able to tighten my shoelaces 4-5 centimeters afterwards, Grethe tells.
-I was very happy. It is impossible to understand miracles, I just have to rest in the fact that it happened. I have often wondered why it would happen with me out of all people. I'm not a particularly good person, that's not how it works. God wants to give His gifts to us all, she says.
Grethe is trained as both a nurse and a teacher. She has held several leading positions as a nurse and she has worked for 16 years with the teaching of nursing students and health education in high school. Today she is a nurse at a rehabilitation institution in Trondheim, and she also teaches nursing students in Trondheim.
Almost too much arch
-I have testified all my life about what happened with my feet. Many don't say much, but they do not believe that I'm telling tall tales, she says.
A few years ago, she had an opportunity when she received treatment at a foot therapist because she had a bad nail. The night before had Svein-Magne been a guest at the talk show «Lønning Direkte» on TV2, and there Svein-Magne had told about Grethe.
-Yesterday I watched «Lønning Direkte», and there was a preacher who spoke of a lady who was supposed to have been cured of flat feet, said foot therapist during treatment.
-Do you know where in the world those feet are now? Grethe asked.
-No, the therapist did not know.
-You are treating those feet right now, Grethe shocked.
-Is that possible? You have almost too much arch under your feet, was the therapists response.
