My first impression of Christian Science filled me with antagonism and resentment toward Mrs. Eddy, and toward those who found interest in what she had written. I had always prided myself on being very practical and sensible, and Christian Science appeared to me to be only a new fad, which really sensible persons would find of no interest. It was therefore some months before I was willing even to enter a Christian Science church, fearing I should be drawn into something with which I had no intention of associating.
I was, however, greatly in need of healing; for I was discordant physically, and dissatisfied and unhappy. I had found that contentment and happiness apparently had no abiding place in my experience, and I could see little joy in the future. At last I became willing to go to a Christian Science practitioner for help. After my first treatment the desire to own the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, was so great that I took my last five dollars from the bank, bought a copy of it, and stayed at home for ten days, reading almost constantly. Chronic constipation of years' standing, which had necessitated the use of drugs almost daily, was healed after the third treatment. This was such a proof to me of the power of God that then and there my reliance on drugs left me, and I took up the study of Christian Science in earnest. That was over twenty years ago, and problems of all kinds have been solved through the application of this truth during the intervening years; the more extreme the need, the nearer has God been found to be.
For a number of years I had suffered periodically with severe sick headaches, which lasted from two to three days at a time. Through the application of Truth these attacks gradually lessened in frequency and intensity, until the fear of them was eventually overcome and they ceased to occur; now they are remembered only as I recount my blessings. An extremely painful and rigid condition of the muscles of the back and neck was quickly dispelled through the work of a practitioner.
