From early childhood I longed for health and a satisfying religion, and spent many weary hours grieving because my parents claimed no religious associations. After years of prayer to an "unknown God," seemingly without any favorable results, I reached a state when I said that there might be a God but I could not find Him.
About the same time I was told by several doctors that an operation would be the only means by which I could be healed of an internal displacement that caused a pressure on the spinal column and seriously disturbed the nervous system. A constant dull ache in the top of my head, said to be from the same cause, caused a fear of insanity. However, one doctor told me that an operation could not bring a permanent healing, and that in a short time another would be necessary. To remain quiet, do little work,—in other words consent to a form of invalidism with much discomfort,—was the only remedy offered. This seemed a bitter sentence to me, the mother of two small daughters and the wife of a farmer with small means to hire competent help.
At this point I witnessed the healing through Christian Science of a near relative; and, although I was skeptical at first, curiosity led me to purchase the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and read it, although at the time I considered it a very foolish expenditure of money. Eight months later I consented to ask a Christian Science practitioner for treatment, and was healed in ten days. Thus I learned that money could not express the value of the book I had purchased. Self-will had argued that I did not need to ask a practitioner for help if God did the healing; but when I finally accepted Mrs. Eddy's statement on page 495 of Science and Health, that "God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is governed by God," I realized that it is through "prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-immolation" and "an absolute faith that all things are possible to God," as she says (ibid., p. 1), that the practitioner expresses the healing power. Many times when I was tempted to doubt the statements of truth, this experience was a great help to me. I knew that Christian Science had healed me; therefore it was useless to argue against it.
