About eighteen years ago a friend induced me to attend a Wednesday evening testimony meeting at a Christian Science church in San Francisco. One testimony in particular I heard there that night seemed to me to be so impossible that instead of inquiring into it, either to prove or disprove its statements, I ridiculed it. At that time I was suffering from curvature of the spine and internal disorders. I had osteopathic treatments for the spine at two different periods, the first time with marked improvement as long as the treatments lasted, but the least excitement would cause the trouble to reappear, until I was as badly off as before. The second period of treatments did me no good whatever. Shortly after this I underwent a major operation, but was soon worse off than before, as the anæsthetic affected the lungs. The doctor told me that I would have to go to a high and dry climate, and that I had less than a year to live if I failed to do so. I realized that I had been driven to an "extremity." However, I now rejoice that it was also "God's opportunity."
A neighbor had asked me two or three times to give Christian Science a trial, but I had only laughed. After the doctor's verdict I did not laugh, but asked myself honestly why I did not investigate it; and the only answer I could find was that it was plainly a case of stubbornness. I then went to the neighbor and asked her how to, go about taking up the study of Christian Science. She advised me to go to a practitioner, and I did so. During my first visit to the practitioner I was convinced that I h,ad found the truth which Christ Jesus had taught, and I came home and threw out the medicine that for years I had thought so necessary. I continued taking treatments for about three months, and became so absorbed in the study that I often read until one or two o'clock in the morning. At the end of that time I was free, free from pain for the first time since I could remember, and my spine was straight. The other disorders had also disappeared.
That was nine years ago, and we have been blessed since then in ways too numerous to mention. For membership in The Mother Church and a branch church, for the loving help given me by practitioners and friends, and for our Leader's priceless gift to humanity I am truly grateful. Only by being obedient and letting my light shine can I show my gratitude; and this I daily strive to do.— Inglewood, California.
