One of the greatest proofs of the sustaining power of the truth, in what seemed to be a rather slow healing, occurred after the birth of our son in 1924. Previous to his birth I had allowed thoughts of resentment and fear to enter my consciousness, due to a business failure of my husband. I did not "stand porter at the door of thought," as our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, tells us to do in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 392). Therefore the erroneous mental condition seemed to bring about an abscess. It affected the entire abdomen and caused a swelling oi alarming proportions. I knew that the time had come to take a firm stand, alone with Principle, never doubting as to the ultimate outcome, but trusting God absolutely. As Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 23 of Science and Health, "'Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!' demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God."
With the aid of a loving practitioner the demonstration took place at the end of seven weeks. I might say that during this time I remained up most of the day; and I attended the church services. At times the pain was intense, and although faithful in my application and study of Christian Science, I could not understand why the difficulty continued to remain apparently the same. I learned a valuable lesson through this experience, and one which it might help others to heed and follow, and it was to rejoice, to rejoice right in the midst of seeming pain and discord. While I had been faithful in my study and in attending the services, at the same time I was giving reality to the unreal. On the day when the pain seemed most difficult to bear I sang our beloved hymn beginning, "Shepherd, show me how to go" (Poems, p. 14), and continued to sing it all the day long, turning away from all sense-testimony and thanking God that I could only express freedom and harmony. At the close of the day the healing took place while I was singing the above hymn. The spiritual understanding which followed this healing helped me to stand firm with a loved one in the home when he was severely injured.
I am so grateful that one of my worst enemies—fear—is lessening to such a degree that I can now detect its nothingness before it reaches alarming proportions as in former times. During my testing time our periodicals, including our daily newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor, proved of inestimable value, giving the needed encouragement and leading out of the mist-experience into the sunlight of Truth.
