May God help me to express my gratitude adequately for all the good that has come to me through the teachings of Mrs. Eddy. I have advanced in the way of truth step by step, often halting and doubting if this really was the way which leads unto liberty. But then it always seemed to me that I heard a voice calling, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," and I would again pray for knowledge. Today I know that nothing can separate us from God.
A few years ago, when I first met a Christian Science practitioner, I was in very trying circumstances with my three little girls. We were deprived of material means and even of the necessaries of life. The words she spoke at that time strengthened my trust in God somewhat, but the constant anxiety as to the future kept me from performing my work with joy. I toiled from morning till night without a noticeable change of conditions, and my duties often weighed heavily on me. I steadily grew weaker physically, and there was scarcely one hour during the day or night when I was free from pain caused by a kidney trouble. When I woke up in the morning, like a mountain the thought weighed upon me as to what the coming day would bring. After some time I again saw the practitioner, and during these memorable days I finally found my firm support in Christian Science, and could be without it no more. I had inquired from my relatives in California what the people there thought of Christian Science, in order to hear an "impartial" opinion, and on my return home from my friend's I found my brother's answer to my letter. He wrote that he and the members of his family had been adherents of Christian Science for the past two years, and he expressed his great surprise and joy to learn that Mrs. Eddy's teaching had found its way to Russia. He said that there was nothing he could wish for more earnestly than that it might prove for me the tower of strength which it had been to his family. I then began to study the Lesson-Sermons and the text-book, and was strengthened. I was filled with the desire to understand, and to progress in the Christ-way.
My industrial art shop began to flourish, and I now employ quite a number of persons, as there is a great abundance of work. I have experienced God's blessing from the time I turned to Him unreservedly. I often feel a sense of overwhelming gratitude, and have become a cheerful woman. I know neither pain nor fatigue, in spite of additional work, and it has become easy for me to perform all my duties, for God's word in connection with Mrs. Eddy's spiritual explanations has become strengthening food unto me. I as well as my children have experienced the healing influence of Christian Science. They have been quickly freed of various diseases, and the effect of the truth on their minds was as if angels had touched them.
