The following testimony is given with the hope that it will help some one who is searching for the truth. When Christian Science was first brought to our home, I was suffering from rheumatism. I had been under medical treatment about ten years with no permanent benefit, and at the age of fifteen I was almost a complete wreck. Our physician said my suffering was caused from a fall on one hip when I was a child. The pain from this injury finally reached the other hip, and then kept moving from one place to another until my whole body was affected. The joints were swollen out of all shape, and when I dismissed the physician to take Christian Science treatment I had been confined to my bed and had been obliged to lie on my back for two months, unable to move myself about except that I could use my arms a little by being very careful.
A dear friend told us of Christian Science and what it had done for her, and she asked my father and mother if they would consent to have her husband take me to see a practitioner. They were anxious for me to go, and willing to do anything for me which they thought would be of benefit, so I was put on a bed in a wagon and carried a distance of sixty miles to see the practitioner. We were on the road two days and one night, and when I had to be moved the pain was almost unbearable. I shall never forget the impression I received when I caught my first glimpse of the truth while in conversation with the practitioner, when she told me that God is Love and that it is not according to His will that His children should suffer. The dear lady came to see me next morning and gave me treatment; then she said I must come to see her the next morning myself. I thought this was pretty hard, but I said I would, and with the assistance of two men I went. I almost had to learn to walk again, as I had practically lost the use of my limbs. The third morning I went the distance of nine rods alone with the aid of two canes; but when I got about half-way I thought I would have to rest, and I feared that if I fell I could not stand the pain. I did fall, but to my surprise I experienced no pain at all. They brought me a chair, and I got up without assistance from any one, and sat in the chair a while, then went into the house. The fourth day I walked across the room alone without a cane, and I kept improving and gaining strength until my folks were surprised, when I got home a week later, to see me using only one cane, after having been taken away on a bed. I soon put the cane aside also, and was perfectly well.
During those ten years under materia medica, I had been compelled to stay in the house about half the time, and was often in bed, unable to be up at all. I was not free from the illness until I was healed through Christian Science, and with God's help I have been able to do without material remedies for over eighteen years. In gratitude to God, also to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, for bringing to the world a practical knowledge of the Christ-healing which Jesus taught, I shall endeavor to let my honest striving for Truth and Love attest my gratitude toward God for the blessings I am receiving every day in the study of the Bible and Science and Health.— Ozona, Fla.
