It is nearly ten years since I took up the study of Christian Science, and I feel that it is only right to give my testimony in the hope that it may help some one as I have been helped so often by the testimonies of others. The church of which I had been a member believed strongly in a personal devil and a burning hell. I had almost given up hope of overcoming evil as it seemed so powerful, and the mental picture of hell was very vivid, but after I had read an article in the Journal through three times, the old concepts were forever banished. I believe that was the happiest day of my life; I felt as though a great load had been lifted from my shoulders when I realized that through the study and practice of Christian Science we could learn to overcome evil in every form.
A few months later my husband took a severe cold which rapidly developed into what is known as quick consumption. He was confined to his bed and was living on a very limited diet. Then severe hemorrhages set in, and I feel sure that he could not have lasted more than a few weeks longer if we had not asked for help from a Christian Science practitioner, with the result that he was healed in one absent treatment. After the treatment he got up, dressed, and had his lunch; that evening he ate a hearty dinner. He did not cough again and never had another hemorrhage. Treatment was given him for three weeks, however, as we could not realize that the healing was already complete. At the end of that time he had regained all the flesh he had lost and was just as strong and well as he is to-day. That was nine years ago.
A few months later a beautiful healing took place in our family and made a vivid impression on my mind, as it was the first time I had been called upon to prove the power of Truth over anything that would be considered serious. We were practically isolated on the desert in Nevada forty-eight miles from a railroad one way and sixty-five miles the other way, with a stage running only once a week and no telephone or telegraph. My daughter was suddenly taken down with inflammatory rheumatism in two of the fingers of her right hand, and suffered so severely that she could not bear to have even a sheet touch them. I treated her to the best of my understanding, but one night she started to cry, saying that she would go crazy if I did not do something for her; that she could not bear the pain any longer. I saw that something must be done at once, so knelt down beside the bed and prayed that God would give me the understanding which would heal her. Then I took "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and read from the chapter on Christian Science Practice.
