It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I give testimony of my healing through Christian Science. For more than ten years I suffered from a so-called incurable tropical disease. For about two years I was in different hospitals, in the tropics as well as in the Netherlands, and was twice at the point of death. I visited many skillful physicians, tried many material remedies, and maintained a most rigid diet, but I received no lasting benefit from any of them. I became worse and worse, enduring pain which from time to time seemed unbearable. Moreover, my lungs were not in a good condition, and I coughed periodically. Life was becoming a burden to me.
The last doctor whom I consulted, about three years ago, and whom I asked to tell me his frank opinion, told me, after continual urging, that he gave me some three months more to live. This medical information, although I expected it, gave me a shock. I was very miserable and downhearted and felt I was sinking rapidly; there were moments when death seemed to me not only inevitable, but also the only relief.
A short time before receiving the verdict of the doctor, I had begun to study Christian Science. I took it up again and persisted in studying the Bible together with Science and Health and other works by Mrs. Eddy. I did it as earnestly and as honestly as I could, feeling that it was my last chance. Now, studying the Bible and the works of Mrs. Eddy is a good thing, and asking and getting help from a practitioner is a very good thing also, but to put into practice that which we are studying and that which is taught us, is the best thing of all. I had to learn not only to appreciate and to admire the beautiful truths which have been given to the world by Mrs. Eddy, but to live them. And it was a long time before I could fully understand the importance of this.
