Jesus' words to his disciples were, "Freely ye have received, freely give;" and it is with love and gratitude for the many channels provided in the Christian Science movement which enable me to serve in the establishment of "on earth peace, good will toward men," that I submit this testimony.
When a young girl of thirteen I became seriously ill with typhoid fever; at the same time an elder sister contracted the same disease, though in a milder form. Friends of the family who heard of the case urged my mother to have Christian Science treatment. This was done, with the result that both of us were entirely healed in a very short time. This healing led to the reading of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, with occasional attendance at the Wednesday evening testimony meetings, and, a little later on, to attendance at a Christian Science Sunday School.
After five or six years I again became seriously ill, this time with a complication of troubles, the most pronounced of which was melancholia, with its dismal blackness and despair, which forced me to take up the study of Christian Science in earnest. Right here let me say, for the benefit of others whose healing seems slow and toilsome, that it was my prolonged study which in the end firmly established a solid foundation upon which I could go forward with increasing confidence and understanding. I learned carefully to examine the quality of thinking I was entertaining, to determine whether it was merely ease of the flesh which I desired or whether I was earnestly striving to reject false beliefs because they in no way honor God, whom I was beginning to know as infinite Love, and whose will for His children is good alone.
