I owe to our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, gratitude which words cannot express, and I gratefully acknowledge all that Christian Science has done for me. Through my application of the truths it teaches, many physical ailments have yielded instantaneously; others have been slow in yielding. Many times problems in my work have disappeared quickly when I have applied the truth, for we know that Truth and error cannot mix any more than can light and darkness.
My first healing came while I knew very little about Christian Science. I had more faith in materia medica than in Science, so when I became very ill, I went to a doctor, who diagnosed the condition as an abscess. There was also a high temperature. I was urged to have an immediate operation, but since I knew a little about Science, I later that day called a Christian Science practitioner and asked for help. The practitioner recommended that I study the chapter on Prayer in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. Healing came on the fourth day, and on the next day I returned to my work. This proved to me that "man's extremity is God's opportunity."
This healing meant much to me, for it gave me new hope that I could be healed of a paralyzing spinal difficulty from which I had suffered extreme pain for seven years. Many doctors had told me that there was no cure, and that at best I would be a semi-invalid for the rest of my life. I was able to move my head only a little in any direction, and walking had become more and more difficult. My joy and gratitude knew no bounds, for now I knew that "with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26). Never once did I doubt, for I was learning that God had not made evil, and that therefore I could not reflect evil, and it was no part of me. Work was taken up for me by a Christian Science practitioner, and steady improvement was manifested. In less than six months the condition had gone, never to reappear. This healing occurred fifteen years ago.
Several years ago I experienced a severe attack of eczema. The condition remained for many months. Suddenly it became much worse, and I again sought help. Our Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly for that week was "Truth," and the Golden Text was from Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Instantly I knew that I had not been trusting God. Many times that day I turned to God and prayed earnestly to be shown how to trust Him, and He did show me, for, as in the experience of Moses (Ex. 4:7), my flesh "was turned again as [my] other flesh." Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 167 of Science and Health, "Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized."
Seasonally I had a painful condition in my feet which made walking difficult. One morning, while walking the short distance to my work, I remembered a testimony which I had heard. The speaker had had the same problem, and he was healed when he realized that he had been critical of his fellow employees. It then occurred to me that that was just what I was doing. I had not given voice to criticism, but was mentally entertaining erroneous thoughts. Silently I reversed my thinking and was able to see these employees as God's children. Instantly every vestige of pain disappeared, and it was as though I were walking on air.
I am humbly grateful for membership in The Mother Church and for branch church activity, and I am looking forward to gaining a better understanding of God through further study of Christian Science.— Detroit, Michigan.
