I give my testimony with a heart overflowing with joy and thanksgiving to God for all His goodness and mercy to His children, with an earnest prayer that it may turn some other weary wanderer, in search of "living water," to this haven of rest in divine Science. I thank God for our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, who so bravely, trustingly walked with God in the straight and narrow path, ever keeping in view the goal; and that thus was ushered into the world once again the Christ-living, the Christ healing; namely, Christian Science.
Before I came into this blessed truth, I never knew a day without some suffering or sorrow. When I was a very young child I had a fever which left me with all the ills, seemingly, that flesh is heir to. As I grew into girlhood and womanhood my suffering increased, until I often prayed for death. I can count at least six operations without any permanent relief. I had the best doctors and specialists in Chicago (my home) and in New York city, all of them good, conscientious men and women of the medical profession. They treated me for various diseases, particularly rheumatic and nervous troubles. I walked with a cane for several years and suffered greatly from bowel trouble. I could not sleep without some opiate, and for more than fifteen years I was kept on a special diet. I had a serious ear trouble, for which I had been doctored since childhood. One of the best aurists told me I ought to have an operation performed immediately, that he would not insure my life over night, comparing my condition to that of carrying dynamite, which might explode at any moment. I told him that I had had one operation performed already, from which I had received no benefit, and that I feared the operation as much as the dynamite explosion. Besides all this, two operations for female trouble had failed to help me; nothing but a rest in bed for two and three days at a time, with hypodermic injections, ever relieved me. I had the most heroic treatments, and everything that materia medica could suggest was tried, no expense being spared for my relief. I visited various springs, baths, and sanitariums; had electricity, osteopathy. X-rays, massage, etc., giving them all a long and fair trial; but they all failed, and left me more discouraged and weak than before. My last physician advised me to stop all doctoring and medicine, since these had failed to help me, and to make the best of my condition. I thanked him for his honesty and interest in me, and took his advice.
Not long afterward I overheard some one mention Christian Science, and I lost no time in visiting a practitioner. It was not long before I walked freely without a cane; slept naturally, ate anything I desired, and gradually all the pain and sufferings of which I have written became things of the past. Through my study and understanding of this Science (and I realize that I have much yet to learn) all the skepticism and bitterness of my life also passed out. I have found in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, the priceless pearl. I feel grateful, blessed, and privileged to live in this age that has ushered in anew the Christ-healing. I am a Jewess by birth, but I really had no religion. The Bible was a scaled book to me; I could not believe or understand its hidden meanings, nor could I accept anything blindly. I wanted to know, and that longing brought a sense of emptiness into my life which I could not express, and disheartened with my ill health at that time, I sought comfort—after a fashion—in "other gods," which eventually brought only disappointment.
