The message of freedom which Christian Science brings came to me at a time when I was in a helpless condition. I was then living in Switzerland, and for several years had been suffering from lung trouble, and at times from excessive weakness, especially in cold and damp weather. To this were added hip disease and a nervous complaint which forced me to remain at home. I was bent and could move about only with great pain and difficulty. My eyesight was also impaired. Despite treatment in a sanitarium and at a health resort, and the application of all kinds of material remedies, I grew constantly worse.
After I had been confined to the house in this condition for more than a year, and several doctors had not been able to help me, my mother brought home a copy of Der Herold der Christian Science which an acquaintance who had suffered from a similar complaint for three years, and had been healed in Christian Science, had given her. The same evening I read the first article in the Herold, and while I was reading it a spiritual illumination of thought took place. In these few minutes I grasped the great truth which Christian Science teaches, namely, that all sickness is mental and has its cause in erroneous thinking, and that I must, therefore, discontinue treating my body. I obeyed this divine command immediately.
I retired filled with hopeful joy and inexpressible peace. The following morning on getting up I found, to my great surprise, that I could stand upright and walk normally. Gradually, with the help of a practitioner, I gained new strength, so that in six months I was able to climb some of the highest points of the Swiss Alps. The slow healing of one of the troubles only spurred me on to strive for more spiritual understanding.
