A written acknowledgment of my blessings and of my gratitude to God for them is long overdue. Christian Science came to me with healing power when, as a sickly adolescent, all I could look back on was a life of bondage to illness.
From babyhood I had intestinal tuberculosis, accompanied by partial paralysis of the bowels. From my birth until I was in my teens, a day never passed without the use of either medicine or some other aid to relieve the condition. After I had attended a Christian Science Sunday School for about a year and had had some proof of the healing power of Science, I reasoned that I was not being honest with myself in working some problems out in Christian Science while I still relied on medical means for relief from the bowel condition.
I ceased using aids, but my fear was very great when after ten days there was no movement. Searching my thinking, I found that instead of trusting the one all-powerful healer, God, I had been trusting in other gods by still relying on so-called laxative foods. When I realized that God needs no help from matter because His idea already expresses harmonious action, I was ready to undergo the trial which was to prove the truth of Mrs. Eddy's words (Science and Health, p. 425), "Consciousness constructs a better body when faith in matter has been conquered." Over three weeks passed without a bowel movement, but when it came it was natural and harmonious. That was twenty-five years ago, and the healing has been permanent. The years since then have been active, happy ones, marked by vigorous health.
