At my husband's earnest solicitation I consented to try Christian Science treatment for sciatic rheumatism, but I was prejudiced against it and received no help. As time went on I grew worse, and finally resolved to go to another practitioner. The first question the gentleman asked me was, "What do you know about God?" Now I had always had a pretty good opinion of my knowledge of Scripture,—of God and His character,—yet I was at a loss what to say; but an answer had to be given, so parrotlike I repeated what I had heard my aunt say so many times, that "God is a personal God." The practitioner asked me a number of questions and in the end declined to take my case.
As I left that office my thoughts were in a turmoil, but finally the thought came that perhaps the practitioner was right after all; for I had to admit that I knew nothing about Christian Science, never having read its literature, but on the contrary had read everything that could be found which spoke against it. Pride forbade my going back to this gentleman, but another practitioner was consulted; and by this time I had learned to be more humble. Some benefit was received, but I was not healed; and another disease presented itself, namely, gallstones. I went from one practitioner to another, but with little result. Several years passed, during which I studied Science and also had class instruction; but still my condition became worse, until it seemed as though there was no help for me. A doctor advised an immediate operation; but I would not consent, but took the medicine he left for two days.
Then one day the question, Are you going to continue with the physician? presented itself. An emphatic No, was the answer, and when my husband came home I told him to throw out the medicine. That was ten years ago. It was a long and uphill struggle, covering about six years, and I became very despondent; the thought of death was continually with me. One Wednesday evening the one hundred and eighteenth psalm was read as the Scriptural selection, but only one verse of it was heard: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." These words came as though spoken to me personally. After that, whenever the thought of dying came I spoke these words, and in a few weeks it ceased to trouble me. Gradually the discordant conditions disappeared, and I am now free from sciatic rheumatism and gallstones.
