Before I came into Christian Science my health was precarious, and I was a prey to discouragement. I had been under the care of doctors, one of whom told me that I was not responsive to medicine. My suffering came from heart, intestinal, and glandular troubles. I was of a nervous temperament and had no patience, either with myself or with others.
In our business my husband made a bad deal, which I felt could have been avoided if he had heeded my advice. I was beside myself and exclaimed that if there was a God, He certainly would see to it that things were more just.
In the midst of all this outburst a customer whom I knew only by sight realized that I was upset and said, "Everything can be straightened out." These words caught my attention. He advised me to read a copy of The Herald of Christian Science (French Edition), which he lent me. I had read but a few lines of the first page when a great warmth flowed through me. With shame I hid my face in my hands. I could feel the main cause of my troubles leave me; it was egotism. The heart condition was instantaneously healed.
As I continued reading, it seemed to me that the article was written just for me. I had been suffering from lonesomeness, but I was freed from it on the spot. "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy was mentioned in the article, and I asked the person who had lent me the Herald to help me obtain this textbook. When it came, however, I understood little of its teachings. I thought that it would be better to put the book aside and not talk any more about it. And that is what I did.
After some time I had a severe nervous breakdown. Both my husband and my mother advised me to see a specialist. The first thing that I told him about was my fear that I was losing my mind. He told me that I must help myself. In trying to decide how I could best do this, I thought of taking out the book, Science and Health, which I had laid aside, and of trying to read it. I did this, but in a desultory way, for I still understood nothing it said.
I was just about to put it away again when my eyes fell on these lines in the Preface (p. x): "No intellectual proficiency is requisite in the learner, but sound morals are most desirable." This thought gave me courage, and I read a little each day. From that time on, no matter where I opened the book, I found something of interest to me. The more I read, the more I wanted to read.
Another of our customers, having learned that I had a copy of the Christian Science textbook, offered to accompany me to a Reading Room, and we went. From the librarian I learned how to study the weekly Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly. Even while I read the lesson for the first time, I felt the nerves in my arms, hands, fingers, and legs relax. A short while later I realized that my entire nervous system was becoming normal.
The words on page 475 of the textbook particularly interested me. They made me think, comforted me, and helped me to forget myself. Soon I no longer thought pityingly about myself because of my jot. Anxiety, doubt, anger, impatience, and other faults of character left me. Little by little everything which had made existence miserable for me disappeared. Digestion became normal, and I no longer took laxatives. I had been very thin, but my weight became normal.
The doctors were correct in saying that medicine could do nothing for me. Through the daily study of the Lesson-Sermon and through the demonstration of the spiritual truths which it contains I have come to know that God is Love and that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Science and Health, p. 494). My gratitude is boundless. My deep respect goes to the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy, who consecrated her life to the well-being of humanity and gave to the world her revelation of Truth.— Ventimiglia, Italy.
