It is with a joyful heart that I wish to tell of how I found my way to Christian Science, and I trust that many another wanderer in the dark will find comfort and enlightenment through God's gracious help and ever-present love. From the time I was thirteen I suffered with headaches, which as I grew older became aggravated, so that I would be unable to do anything for days at a time. All sorts of applications and remedies were tried, and brought relief for a short while; but still I would be stricken with severe attacks two or three times within a week. Later, great nervousness, with worry and irritability, was added; I lost all courage and love of life; in short, much evil seemed to pursue me. By going to the seashore I was relieved of the trouble for some time, but the foe soon crept in again.
In addition to this, our only daughter was taken ill regularly in the spring or fall with an affection of the lungs. For years medical prescriptions were strictly followed, and the disease would disappear with the coming of the warmer season. Although I trusted in God, I felt no inward satisfaction, for I daily carried worry and anxiety with me, which was probably the cause of my head giving me so much suffering. In December, 1903, my daughter was again taken ill, and this time more severely than ever before. Her condition became alarming, and the physician advised a long sojourn at the Riviera. I decided to follow this advice, and left for Italy with my sick child. The sunny south improved her and myself, for I, too, had become sick in mind and body through the child's long illness. The headaches, however, pursued me at intervals there also. In May we returned home strengthened, but in the beginning of January my daughter was again taken with the dreaded trouble. As the cough grew worse daily and was accompanied by the usual symptoms, once more I was filled with anxiety.
One evening a dear friend, a Christian Scientist, came like a saving angel with a copy of Der Herold, saying, "Your daughter can get well; suppose you read this." I immediately started to read the testimony of a lady whose daughter had been healed of lung disease, and at once felt the firm trust that all things are possible with God. I read this copy of Der Herold through that same evening, and the following day I got two more copies and read them. I then was firm in my decision, and immediately wrote to a Christian Science practitioner, asking for treatment for my daughter, who is now nineteen years of age. The help was promised, and my daughter herself applied by letter to the practitioner. God made it possible for us to take a trip to Dresden, where I became personally acquainted with the kind practitioner and conferred with her. The simplicity of the services there, the earnest, free-hearted prayer of the congregation to man's creator, and the testimonies of healing, impressed me so deeply that since that day a complete transformation has taken place within me.
