I was healed of a severe illness through Christian Science, which brought to me a realization of the allness of God, with whom all things are possible.
My trouble started in 1901 and became more serious from day to day; and I was growing correspondingly weaker. The doctor pronounced it cancer, and assured me that nothing but an operation would bring relief. He stated further that if the operation were not performed within ten days my left arm would be paralyzed. I was troubled and discouraged, for I could not decide to go through the ordeal. When the pain would awaken me out of sleep, the first thought would be, You must be operated upon. As I grew worse, my dear mother advised me to go out West to consult a cousin who was a first-class physician, to see what he had to say about my case. I did so, and he told me exactly what the first doctor had told me. I asked him if my arm would be all right after the operation, and he said it would never have the same strength. He tried to persuade me to have it done there, but I did not consent, as I had promised my mother I would have her with me.
On my homeward journey I wept and felt very much discouraged. I had with me a book which a friend had handed to me. This I tried to read, but could not get much meaning from it, for it seemed like Greek to me. This book was "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. A week passed, and I tried again to read the book. A friend came in, and seeing it in my hands said, "Keep on reading that book, for my brother-in-law was healed of cancer of the stomach through the understanding obtained from Science and Health." This gave me renewed courage, and I sought a practitioner. I had great relief after the first treatment; but in a few days the pain became more severe. I walked the floor, denying its reality and praying for the understanding to overcome it. It seemed as though it would crush me, and I became too weak to pace the floor. I thought the end was near. I can see now that it was the testing time and the letting go of the trouble. I thought that last night of suffering was indeed going "through the valley of the shadow of death." I lay down, and was not conscious of anything after that until I awakened in the morning with no pain and able to move my arm above my head. I was overjoyed, and called to my mother: "I am healed! See what I can do! Thank God for His healing power, loving-kindness, and tender mercies, for they are ever as of old!"
