At the first Wednesday evening meeting I attended, a gentleman spoke about Christian Science as having enabled him to overcome financial difficulties. The testimonies of healing seemed ridiculous to me, but the above statement was the climax; still I was impressed with the beautiful and simple service and left the hall with a mixed feeling of doubt and hope. I was suffering at the time with a severe nervous condition, insomnia, and numerous other ailments, for which all material remedies had been tried without success. I will say that if patience and endurance lead to success I should have been well without the aid of Christian Science, but a change for the worse convinced me that I was on the wrong track. My physician told me that worry had caused my physical condition and that I must stop worrying. Jokingly I remarked that every man should be supplied with a switch, so that he could turn off the flow of harmful thoughts, because I could no more stop worrying than eating. However, this talk with my physician induced me to try Christian Science. I asked him about Christian Science and he told me that he knew of people who had been cured of imaginary troubles, but added that 'anything which really existed could not be cured by this method. So long as Christian Science cured something, I made up my mind to investigate it, and, strange to say, it cured my troubles that to human sense really existed, long before the "imaginary" ailment disappeared. The beneficial influence of Christian Science cured me unconsciously of throat trouble of fifteen years' standing, besides rheumatic and stomach trouble. I dare say that to human belief these ailments really existed, because many a day and night I had suffered agony from them.
In addition to the sums paid to the physicians, the outlay for atomizers, medicines, etc., for the throat trouble, amounted to about five hundred dollars. The stomach trouble had made my life miserable for about twenty years. At the age of thirteen I first had medical treatment for this trouble. Since then, I had been attended by many physicians, and in addition to the expense for medical services at least one thousand dollars was expended for appliances, medicines, etc. How I envied those who could eat what they liked and as much as they saw fit, without suffering. At one time I was at the point of suicide and a doctor administered morphine to relieve my suffering.
Since coming into Christian Science I have not had one attack of illness, eat anything I want, as much as I want, and never fear the result. Last fall I lost all desire for tobacco and liquor,—habits of eighteen years' standing. Upon careful figuring, I was surprised to learn that during the last eighteen years I had spent at least thirty-five hundred dollars for liquor and tobacco. Through the spiritual uplifting, besides the physical healing, my productiveness has been increased and consequently my salary. I have long stopped wondering how Christian Science can overcome financial difficulties.
