For some years I have wanted to submit a testimony to our periodicals, but I have indulged in postponement because of the feeling that unless I had something fairly dramatic to relate, my contribution might be of little interest to others. Recently, however, it has become clearer to me that since the eternal revelation of the facts of Spirit is continuous, natural, and normal, an account of orderly progress, of a life made year by year more harmonious, more useful, and more satisfying through the teachings of Christian Science, would not be without value. Such has been my experience; and, to me, at least, the contrast between my present happy outlook and my situation a relatively few years ago is dramatic enough.
I attended a Christian Science Sunday School sporadically in my teens. Here I must have had a glimpse of some fundamentals; but it was years before my appreciation of this religion advanced beyond the point of flying to the books or telephoning a friendly practitioner on isolated occasions when things were not going as I wanted them to go. My desire to be a genuine student of Christian Science dates from a crisis in my business affairs when literally everything was awry and the conclusion was inescapable that I simply was not clever enough to manage without God. Turning at last wholeheartedly to Christian Science, seeking first the kingdom of God, proved to be the turning point of my life in all ways, not merely in connection with business. My subsequent progress in business, while very gratifying, has not been without painful adjustments; but with improvement of character and purpose have come quiet assurance and activity, which are more constructive and more fruitful than ever before.
I should like to describe a healing of about thirty years ago which taught me a lesson of permanent importance. I was a heavy smoker; and though I did not at the time regard this as a religious issue, I wanted to stop because indigestion invariably followed excessive smoking. Moreover, I resented my apparent inability to control the habit. I had tried hard on many occasions to give up smoking by means of willpower; but I had always failed because of a subtle change which would take place in my thinking. A few days of abstinence would convince me that the prospect of freedom from smoking offered me no advantage which could even begin to compensate for the misery of the struggle. Yet the victory was eventually won for me in a simple and beautiful way.
