I wish to express humble gratitude for the many healings I have experienced in Christian Science. It was about thirteen years ago that I attended my first lecture and became much interested.
One instantaneous healing which occurred during the war was of my eyes. They were so badly swollen and irritated that I could not open them without unbearable pain. I worked in a shipyard where it is a common thing to see men walking around for about two weeks wearing dark glasses over heavily salved eyes. This was the doctor's usual treatment for the bad effects of too close proximity to a welder's are. I experienced this close range one day, but at that time I laughed it off and forgot about it. That night I was awakened with great pain in my eyes. My wife called a practitioner, who gave instructions for me to go back to bed and make every effort to exclude everything but God from my consciousness, while she worked for me. This I did, and within minutes I felt my eyes relax and the swelling leave, along with the pain. This was so quick that my wife called back to express gratitude, and the next morning there was no trace of this condition. I knew then that something wonderful had been done and could therefore be done again, and this urged me to find out more about Christian Science.
As far back as I can remember my greatest wish has been to overcome the fear of persons which always seemed to grip me when I was in a company and liable to have attention focused my way. After hearing that first lecture I felt confident that I could find my freedom in Christian Science. All along the way much help was needed and lovingly supplied by experienced practitioners, but it was not until I had class instruction that I saw the full meaning of freedom for the first time in nearly forty years. This has resulted in my giving several testimonies in church, something I could never do before, and becoming a more useful church member, serving in committee work and as a teacher in the Sunday School. I understand more clearly now what Mrs. Eddy meant in her statement in Science and Health (p. 403): "You command the situation if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self deception and not the truth of being." My only motive now is to glorify God by helping others the way I was helped.
