As I feel so much gratitude for Christian Science, my only regret is that I have not made a more public acknowledgment of its benefits. Some years ago I was a miserable sufferer, discouraged and disheartened with the countless inconsistencies in the world, and especially in the religious teachings of my childhood. When I had found but slight comfort, very little practical help, and nothing for my physical needs, I turned with a hungry heart to Christian Science, and there found immediate satisfaction in a religious sense; but I had to prove and demonstrate what seemed difficult as to its efficacy as a healing agency.
I was stricken down rather suddenly with great, physical and mental weakness, my head, heart, and stomach being affected. Several physicians of different schools of medicine were consulted, but none seemed to know what was the matter with me. I then tried absolute rest, but only grew weaker. I was unable to exert myself either mentally or physically. After months of extreme suffering and sleepless nights, with no hope in anything, Christian Science was brought to my notice by a kind neighbor whom I had seen instantaneously healed. I determined to employ the same practitioner. Although I had no faith in what the practitioner was doing, yet I felt that it was possible to be healed, and I would have more confidence if I could hear of the healing of some one who had been affected just the same as I, but I never did. When I was shown that it was my mind which needed treating instead of my body, I began to search the Bible and Science and Health, and looked to the Lesson-Sermons for my daily spiritual food.
When I realized that I must look away from body into Mind, as we are taught in Science and Health, and that "to be absent from the body" is "to be present with the Lord," as we are taught in the Bible, then I tried to be obedient and to eradicate what I knew to be mentally wrong. As I did this, my fear was gradually removed and my body responded with more strength. I found that my condition was becoming normal, and now, fourteen years after my healing, I am about as healthy as any one, although in the past few years I have been called upon to pass through the hardest ordeals of my life, both mentally and physically.
