My heart goes out in gratitude to God, and to our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy, for what Christian Science has done and is doing for me and for all mankind. I have long been silent, but I feel I can no longer refrain from telling of some of my blessings. I did not come into Christian science for the physical healing, but rather from a constant and eager search for the truth. In looking back over the years of my life I know that I have been healed of many ailments, among them weak eyes and severe headaches (said to be inherited), from which I had suffered from childhood; also of stomach and heart trouble. These have all left me,—I scarcely know when,—but I am thankful to say that I am free from them.
It had always been my greatest desire to do right, but I seemed to be unable to live up to my ideals of right doing. I searched the Scriptures, read and reread certain chapters,—the Sermon on the Mount, the fifth chapter of Galatians, the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, and the third chapter of James, where it speaks of bridling the tongue. I also read and stupid the best author, etc., poets and philosophers,—trying to find something tangible by which I might overcome a disagreeable disposition, a quick temper. I tried my best to do so, but would find myself falling down frequently. I saw plainly that "of mine own self" I could "do nothing."
At this time Christian Science was presented to me in a way that I could accept it. I was visiting in my sister's home, where I had the opportunity to see what it had done for her, and I was ready for it. I was hungering for a demonstrable rule by which I could work out my life problem, and I certainly found it in Science and Health. I began the daily study of the Lesson-Sermon, and learned the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468). When I had been studying a week or more, I had occasion to use the "talent" I had, and prove what I had learned, in the healing of a badly injured ankle. I declared the truth very earnestly, then rose to my feet and walked right off—perfectly free. The next day I walked up a mountain trail, a distance of five miles, and back without any inconvenience whatever. I believed the "scientific statement of being" to be true when I used it in making this demonstration, but I had little or no understanding of its vital meaning; yet that experience gave me faith and courage to go on.
