The following experience has made Christian Science nearer and dearer than ever before, and brought with it the unselfish desire to share its tender blessings with those who may be seeking a very present savior from sorrow or disease. It brought an uplifted sense of the allness of good and of the power of one right thought to destroy or displace the wrong thoughts that clamor for expression in our experience. For about a week I had been suffering from a physical condition which not only was painful and depressing, but as the days passed grew to seemingly alarming proportions. It was an inherited condition, from which I had suffered since childhood. There was much ahead of me,—household duties,—as well as calls from those in need of help to whom I had promised to give treatment.
My first thought was that it was best not to undertake the usual week's house-cleaning. Then in answer came the quick response that my work was to express in my home cleanliness, order, and system, and whatever was right for me to do could be done with no ill effects. Obedient to this voice, I began my work, but the pain seemed to become more severe and the symptoms almost alarming to mortal sense. I had no fear, however, and refused to listen to or to see any discordant condition. Then, like the "still small voice" after the storm, to my waiting sense came the words of the hymn, "Lord, my times are in Thy hand," and as the metaphysical import of these words and the following lines came to me, I was instantaneously healed; all symptoms disappeared and the pain entirely vanished. Thus I realized the meaning of these words in Science and Health (p. 14): "Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,—neither in nor of matter,—and the body will then utter no complaints."
This is only one of the many blessings that Christian Science has brought into my experience. Organic heart trouble, from which I had suffered since childhood, was overcome in one treatment; again, I was healed of severe colds and a tendency to them. Later on came the healing in one treatment of an abnormal growth and the habit of taking a drug to deaden the pain, as well as of a structural defect in both eyes, for which glasses had been worn eight years. With this healing came also the awakening to what Christian Science is, the truth that Jesus the Christ expressed. This healed me of a great grief that had seemed to devastate my life, and in the place of mourning I was given "the garment of praise."
