I have many times thought I would send on my testimony to the power of Christian Science to heal and save, and have even commenced to write it, but for various reasons it has never been finished. Now I feel the time has come when the story of my healing must be told, in the hope that it may help—if only one. I think it was about fifteen years ago that Christian Science was first presented to me. and though I neither denied it nor antagonized it yet I did not accept it, neither did I look into it, but instead drifted on into great suffering, mental and physical, until about five and a half years ago, when I seemed to be in the very depths of misery. I had almost ceased to believe in a God of any kind—had quite ceased to pray, and had no religion, for it all seemed such mockery to me. I had never met with anything but failure as a result of my earnest endeavors, and the constant strain of hard work followed by repeated disappointment helped to bring me to that stage of misery and despair which made me willing to look for something higher, better, and purer than my way of doing things. When first I went to a meeting of Christian Scientists it was in a private house, where a dear messenger of peace and love was reading the Lesson-Sermon for that week to a few willing listeners. Though what I heard there seemed strange to me, yet I knew it was the truth. I could not explain why, but I knew it, and I do not remember missing a meeting or a service from then till now, excepting once or twice in order to help another.
Although I did not take up Christian Science for the physical healing, I have since been lifted out of very great suffering. I was healed of severe internal distress, stomach trouble with all its attendant ills, a delicate spine, and many other ailments to which mortal flesh is heir. My healing was not accomplished without many hard struggles, and I can truthfully say that I would not now have had it otherwise. My gratitude for all this is deep and sincere, but it is nothing compared with the joy and gratitude I feel for the spiritual uplift I have gained through the teachings of Christian Science. Though I know there is still much room for improvement, yet I do feel that the moral healing which is so necessary has commenced.
My deep love and gratitude to dear Mrs. Eddy, for having made this glorious truth possible and practicable for me, is beyond words. My heart goes out to her who ever points the way our great Master trod, and in prayer to God to give me that strength of humility, that purity of thought and desire, which will cleanse me of all that is unlike Him, and so make me fit to work in the vineyard of Truth and Love.
