I am deeply grateful to be numbered among the thousands who have been healed, uplifted, and blessed beyond measure by Christian Science. As a boy of seventeen or eighteen I attended the Christian Science Sunday School briefly, but I drifted away from the consistent practice of the truths taught there. Several years passed before I had a desire to unite with the Church of Christ, Scientist. Then I realized that the use of tobacco could not be justified and that this habit of some years' standing must be destroyed.
In my business I come in constant contact with those who smoke, but I rarely encounter anyone who smokes as much as I did. Through the application of Christian Science, I was healed of the habit. In the years since this liberation, I have seen that the false appetite was but an illusion, no part of my true being and not really belonging to me.
All my adult life until about three years ago I had been a consistent coffee drinker, assuring myself that the indulgence of that habit was one of the lesser faults which I would abandon at some future time, but believing that at the moment I had more important things to do in the line of spiritual progress. It was pointed out to me that this appetite too is contrary to the wholehearted practice of Christian Science and does of necessity becloud one's spiritual outlook.
Anticipating no difficulty, without hesitation I discontinued drinking coffee. That evening I experienced an extremely severe headache, nervousness, and the feeling that I was about to lose consciousness. The suffering was so acute that I asked for help from a Christian Science practitioner, and it was lovingly given. Complete relief was enjoyed within an hour or two.
This sense of suffering, however, had its beneficial effect, since it pointed up the unsuspected hold that such an apparently innocent appetite had in my thinking. It proved to me that our wise Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, did not exaggerate the need for destroying this hold when she wrote on page 406 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco, tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind's mastery of the body." Since this experience, coffee has had no attraction for me.
Broken bones, sprains, chronic colds, intestinal influenza, lumbago, and other illnesses encountered over a period of many years have been healed through Christian Science, sometimes instantly, always positively and unmistakably. The realization that God is the only Mind has wrought wonders in our home and business, proving effectual in the solution of problems of business, housing, and human relationships.
I should be remiss if I did not mention the progressive blessings resulting from membership in The Mother Church and a branch church, as well as from class instruction. Service in many capacities, including teaching in the Christian Science Sunday School, has been a source of inspiration and deep-lying satisfaction. There is little wonder that students of Christian Science so often express sincere gratitude for the greatest of all gifts to mankind, this way of Life.
Riverside, California
