I give this testimony with an overflowing sense of love and gratitude to God, and to our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy, for what Christian Science has done for me. When I first heard of Christian Science, about three years ago, I was in great sorrow and bodily distress. My husband had just passed on with what physicians pronounced an incurable disease. During his illness I had fallen with great force, injuring my breast, and a morbid growth developed which filled me with terrible fear. Many years before this, heart disease had rendered it impossible for me to lie on my left side, and when this trouble appeared, for about three months sleep was obtained only by resting on my knees and elbows. In addition to all this suffering, one morning, upon rising earlier than usual, after a most restless and uncomfortable night, I discovered that my body was covered with what proved to be an eruptive disease . My sister telephoned to a friend who was a Christian Scientist, and she came immediately. I shall never forget what she said to me that day. It was something new, something I never had heard before, but which proved to be that for which I had been hungering all my life. She told me not to fear, to keep my thought from my condition as much as possible, and that I would be cared for. These two terrible ailments, following so closely my great loss, surely rendered me an excellent subject for the demonstration of Christian Science.
Such was my condition when Christian Science found me. That night my only prayer was, "O God, have mercy on Thy servant." Upon awaking the next morning my first thought was to see the eruption, and, behold, my body was as smooth as ever! God had heard my prayer, and the disease had disappeared during the night, while I was peacefully sleeping. My sister telephoned to the practitioner, who came to me glad and happy that I was clean and whole. Then she explained Christian Science to me, and the power of divine Love. She told me to get a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, which I did. I read it all that day and the next. My interest in the book became so great that I could not lay it aside. I had read the book half through when I laid it down and felt like one newly born, or as though I had wakened from a long and troubled dream. I was peaceful and happy; I had found the true God, one who is ever-present, for the God who is Love had broken the chains asunder and set me free. The heart disease had left me while reading this most wonderful book, and after receiving treatment for the growth, in about three weeks it left me. After a while it came back again, but the practitioner gave me a few more treatments and this time it left me forever. I was also treated for a chronic bowel trouble which dated from childhood, and was healed of it. Nor is this all! For eighteen years I had been a sufferer from rheumatic trouble, for which I had been treated unsuccessfully by physicians of high reputation. I had tried everything in the way of medicines but found nothing which did me any good. At times I was unable even to bold a handkerchief, and bad to be fed. This disease also disappeared with the other ailments, while I was reading Science and Health.
I am now in perfect health, and am happy, for I have a church to go to. Although I had attended churches of different denominations, I never found anything which helped me in any way. The Bible, Science and Health, and the Quarterly are my constant companions, and it is a pleasure to study them. I am thankful to God. and to Mrs. Eddy for the understanding and spiritual uplifting which I have gained, and while not as yet much advanced, I am able to help myself and others. I have learned that I can prove my love and gratitude only by following the teachings of her whom God has chosen to be the standard-bearer of Truth. My duty now is to sacrifice all for my Master; to follow him in the straight and narrow path and to keep his commandments; to know more of God, good, and of the truth that sets us free. This testimony proves that the highest form of prayer is in demonstration, and I trust that some other poor sufferer may be benefited by it.
