It is with a heart full of gratitude that I send this testimony. Someone has written, "The darkest hour precedes the dawn." I want to point out how dark it really was for me. I was a hard-working man, with a loving wife and two children, and always tried to do the best I could for everybody, and yet for two or three months each year I was unable to work owing to sickness which was a so-called after effect of the war.
It was during one of these periods of sickness that Christian Science was mentioned to my wife by a friend who said he knew that it would do me good; but I said that if he felt as I did he would not want to bother about church or anything else on a Sunday morning. Things went from bad to worse till one Wednesday a doctor said that one of my lungs was destroyed and the other badly affected. On Thursday my own doctor came. I told him of the other's verdict, and he said that my heart was in a serious condition. On Friday my wife went to see the doctor to learn the real state of affairs, and it took her half an hour to recover from the verdict. I never knew what the doctor's verdict was.
Saturday came, and so did the Christian Science friend, who said that on Sunday he was coming to see me personally. With Sunday came the glorious dawn for me. Almost the first words my friend said were, "No doubt you have cried out to God, What have I done to deserve this?" Now this had been my continual cry, and this statement made me sit up and listen. He went on to explain that God, who is Love, could not send sickness and did not know it; with the result that from being unable to walk without aid I was able on the following Tuesday to go about two miles to my doctor. He asked me in astonishment, "Why, whatever is the matter?" I requested that he examine me, as I wanted to start working. He did so, and told me that I had not been so strong for months. The next day I attended my first Christian Science service, and I shall never forget the loving welcome I got there. I was back at work the following Monday.
