Christian Science means a great deal to me. I am very grateful for the good it has already brought, but even more so for its never-ending promise. Before I knew of this truth, my outlook upon life might have been compared to that of a person in a dimly lighted cave, surrounded by seemingly impassable walls, groping in half-light and shadows, and feeling that somewhere in that obscurity there must be an outlet to the light, a clue to freedom.
I had settled down in the midst of the gloom, despondent and unhappy, to wait, I knew not how long or for what, but when some one from without gave me the clue, the dawning light in my consciousness gradually illumined my surroundings. As the prisoning walls faded away before my eyes, I recognized that they were only ignorance and doubt, nothing more, and I saw stretching out beyond them on all sides a limitless horizon. I would not say that I have not sometimes lost the vision for a time again, and found the old walls seemingly around me; but this temporary sense of darkness was not hopeless, as it had been before, because I had learned that it was not real.
After I had known of Christian Science for only a short time, I found that without any special treatment I had been freed from colds and the fear of colds, from which I had suffered almost constantly during the winter months, and also from frequent headaches, said to be due to overstudy. After that I was enabled through the understanding of Truth to spend about seven years in study without losing more than a week from my work on account of physical trouble. During the greater part of this time I was carrying many heavy courses, which required from twelve to sixteen hours' application each day. Through the realization I had gained of God as Mind, "omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent" (Science and Health, p. 465), the work was made a pleasure instead of a task; examinations, usually so dreaded, were passed easily, and without extra preparation.
