Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for Christian Science for what it has done for me. It has made a complete change in me, something which two years ago I would call an impossible thing to do. From the time I was seventeen I had suffered from rheumatism in its worst forms. Every year I was confined to the bed from eight to twelve weeks, and for many weeks after that was unable to move about except with the greatest difficulty. About the same time my kidneys began to trouble me, and in a few years I was said to have a bad case of Bright's disease. I began to use intoxicating liquors and tobacco about that time, and used them to excess. I tried to give them up,—tried as hard as I knew how, but was unable to do so. At last I gave up trying and was sinking very low. I got disgusted with myself and did not care what became of me. In the early part of December,1908,I was taken suddenly ill and had to go home and go to bed. I called a doctor, who examined me and told me I had scarlet fever. I grew worse from day to day, and the rheumatism came back on me in its worst form. My kidneys" were in a terrible condition. I could not lie down after the first week, and had to be propped up in an easy chair for over fourteen weeks, unable to move hand or foot. My joints began to knit together and I was terribly reduced. I had given up all hope of ever being able to regain strength to do any kind of work again. In short, I was a moral, physical, and financial wreck. The doctors could not help me and I could not help myself. My eyes, too, were in a dreadful condition. For weeks at a time I could not stand any kind of light, and of course was not able to read.
At this time a friend who knew of my condition advised me to try Christian Science. I was willing to try anything, and having seen what a wonderful change it was making in him I decided to try it that same day. A practitioner called that afternoon and gave me a treatment. She left a copy of Science and Health, and I read it that night until near midnight, and my eyes never troubled me a bit. It was a wonderful demonstration of the power of God. During all the time I was confined to the house I had been using tobacco and drinking a glass of whisky every day. After all the terrible suffering I had gone through, these two habits stayed with me and it seemed as if I could not forsake them, but since the day when I received my first treatment in Christian Science I have had no desire for either. They have passed out of my life completely. I continued to take treatment for about two months, also to read the Bible, a book I never could believe in because I never understood it, but through Mrs. Eddy's teachings it is becoming a wonderful book to me. I also read Science and Health, which has opened up a new world.
My physical condition is now better than it has been since I was a youth, and I am receiving more blessings every day. As wonderful as my physical healing has been, it seems to me the spiritual uplifting has been more wonderful. I am daily striving for a better understanding of the truth, and I find that no right effort is lost. As I look back over the years of agony, dissipation, and darkness I have passed through, I cannot begin to express the gratitude I feel to Christian Science for showing me the way to know God, and to Mrs. Eddy, who has given this great truth to all mankind, also to the devoted friend who was the good angel to direct my first step toward Life, Truth, and Love.
