Gratitude for help received from testimonies given in the periodicals and the desire to be obedient to the Manual of The Mother Church by our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, prompt me to testify to the healing efficacy of Christian Science.
As a child I spent much time with my grandmothers, who, through their example of Christian devoutness, gave me great faith in God. Many times difficulties were overcome through faith that all things are possible to God. It was not, however, until I began to study Christian Science and to apply the rules for demonstrating it that my faith developed into understanding, and I began to realize the relation of God to man.
The first healing experienced in our home through the help of a Christian Science practitioner put to silence forever any doubt in my thought that this Science is the Comforter which Christ Jesus said would come to us and guide us into all truth. Our five-year-old daughter was knocked unconscious while playing under a sprinkler with a group of children. I carried her into the house and then went next door to telephone a practitioner for help. Because I was new in my study of Christian Science and because my neighbors were not Christian Scientists, I was much afraid of their disapproval. However, my faith in God, together with the recollection of healings I had witnessed in a friend's home through the application of Christian Science, impelled me to be obedient.
The practitioner assured me all was well and lovingly took up the work. After two hours of concern for our child, who still lay unconscious, I became quite fearful and doubted the wisdom of my actions. Here I was depending on a person whom I hardly knew to help my child in a manner of which I knew next to nothing.
It was then I turned completely and unreservedly to God and prayed, "Oh, God, if Christian Science is the truth, just give me a sign.'" The next moment I felt a tug on my dress and heard our child ask to put on her favorite dress. She was completely free, with a bright, happy smile on her face. As soon as she was dressed, we walked to the corner for ice cream cones to assure the neighbors that all was well.
However, instead of rejoicing with us, they were cool and restrained. Their children did not come to play as usual, but stayed on their own lawn; it was as though a ten-foot wall stood between their house and ours where there was not even a fence. This made our children most unhappy, and I wondered what to do. It was then the angel thought of gratitude for all that had taken place filled my consciousness. I recognized that God had shown me that Christian Science is the truth and had restored my little one. I declared, "This is the truth, and I am going to learn about it."' I opened my books to study, and almost immediately our lawn was filled with happy children playing; it was as though nothing had happened to interrupt their play.
Since then, various healings have been experienced. Tonsillitis, from which I had suffered severely for three weeks under medical treatment before I knew of Christian Science, was healed instantaneously. Profitable employment was offered to my husband in a manner which left no doubt that it was God-directed. A son was healed of appendicitis when we realized that radical reliance on Truth was necessary. This son was also healed of a brain concussion sustained in an accident during gymnasium class at school. Supply was adequate to meet the demand when the children were ready for college education, and better home conditions have resulted. Some of these healings have come about through our own efforts, and some through the loving ministrations of Christian Science practitioners.
For all these blessings I am sincerely grateful, but I am most grateful for the understanding I am gaining of God as Life, Truth, and Love through the full and complete revelation of Christian Science, given to us by our Leader. I am grateful for membership in The Mother Church, for the privilege of serving in a branch church, as well as for class instruction. Each day my humble prayer to God is that I may truly be His witness and walk in the way He would have me go, to serve Him and show forth His praise.— Evanston, Illinois.
