It is over thirty years since I first heard of Christian Science. At that time, my father had been ill for a long period with inflammatory rheumatism and heart trouble. He could not walk, and the doctors had told him that his condition was quite hopeless, and that if he did not use a heart stimulant, all heart action would stop.
My condition, too, had been pronounced incurable, because of paralysis of the bowels and a severe eye trouble, brought on through infection and overstudy. I had been told I might lose my sight at any minute and that I could not live through the summer, since blood poisoning was inevitable. We lived in northern Iowa. My father was a well-known lawyer, and we had many visitors from out of town. Seeing his condition that summer, many of the visitors asked why we did not try Christian Science. We knew nothing about Science, and there was no practitioner in our town. However, as a last resort, we wrote to a practitioner who had been highly recommended by a friend of my father. The results were amazing and very quick: my father's limbs were straightened, and in a few weeks he could walk. He had taken no heart stimulant during this time. He read Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, as requested by the practitioner, but he could not seem to gain an understanding of it; nevertheless, he was healed. I, too, was completely healed of constipation, after many years of bondage to medicine, which finally failed utterly to help me; my eyes were also healed, and I rejoice to use them freely, both in musical work and other reading. These healings were brought about entirely through absent treatment, as we never saw the faithful practitioner.
Since then, I have seen and experienced many healings, mental, moral, physical, and financial. I have been healed of a fibroid tumor and of a severe attack of pneumonia. At the time my son was born. I lost my hearing, but this was quickly restored through Christian Science treatment, much to the surprise of some friends who were sure I should always be deaf. These physical healings are wonderful, but they cannot compare with the joy, peace, harmony, and dominion brought to one through the revelation of God, whom Mrs. Eddy defines as follows (Science and Health, p. 140): "The Christian Science God is universal, eternal, divine Love, which changeth not and causeth no evil, disease, nor death."
