Because I owe so very much to God, the Giver of all good, to Christ Jesus, our Exemplar, and to Mrs. Eddy, our Leader, I wish to express my profound gratitude for the abundant good that has come to me since I became a student of Christian Science.
While my gratitude for the physical healings I have received is boundless, I am even more thankful for the spiritual rebirth I am experiencing and the understanding I am gaining of the true meaning of compassion. I am grateful for every activity of the Christian Science movement, for membership in The Mother Church and a branch church, for class instruction, for the privilege of attending the yearly association meeting, for branch church service in various capacities, and for the help I have received from our splendid practitioners.
When Science was first presented to me, I had not been in a church of any kind for several years. I had no understanding of God and of man's relation to Him, and I had not the slightest interest in religion. Today, without Christian Science to guide me in my daily life, existence would be meaningless.
Since I first became a student, I have been healed of a number of physical disorders, of social drinking, and of many character and dispositional traits, including cynicism, sarcasm, sensitiveness, timidity, and self-will. These unlovely qualities contributed to making me a sick and unhappy person. Happiness and tranquillity have ruled my thinking in proportion to the spiritualization of my consciousness.
One morning I fell down a steep, winding stairway. I failed to deny the reality of the belief of accident and set out to walk to the railroad station to catch a train into the city. While en route to the station, I began to suffer pain in my spine and one leg and ankle and found it difficult to walk. Despite the insistent and ominous arguments of animal magnetism that I had sustained serious injuries, with possible fractures, I boarded a crowded train and stood for forty minutes.
Fortunately I was carrying a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel, and I opened it to an article that sustained me until I could telephone a practitioner. Treatment was started immediately, and I put in a full day at the office. I spent several hours that evening studying the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings and the following morning I was able to walk slowly without limping. My healing was complete in about three weeks, the last vestige of pain and soreness having disappeared. During this period, I lost no time from business and church activities.
Only recently did I realize that I have been healed of still another spinal difficulty. For many years I suffered periodically from what I believe would have been diagnosed as a slipped disk. A wonderful part of this healing, which occurred some years ago, is that it was so complete that all memory of the ailment was erased from consciousness.
About three years ago, I was healed of a blurring in one eye, caused by a ruptured blood vessel. This was at a time when I used my eyes almost constantly for close editing and proofreading work. I had a practitioner work for me, and although the healing was slow, there has been no recurrence of the trouble.
And now I should like to relate a healing of a so-called incurable disability. When in my early teens, I suffered a long, serious illness that left me with what a physician diagnosed as an incurable partial paralysis of the vocal cords. My speaking voice was low and weak. This made it difficult for me to sing and to speak loudly enough to be readily understood under some circumstances. I also had a huskiness in my throat that caused me to clear it before speaking.
While teaching in a branch church Sunday School, I longed to sing along with the children with zest and enthusiasm. My prayer was answered. About five years ago I discovered one Sunday morning that I was healed. I was able to sing in a lower key than ever before in my adult life and the huskiness had entirely disappeared. This healing came without my having any specific treatment.
This testimony would be incomplete without mention of the priceless assistance Christian Science has been to me in working out difficult human relations problems in business and in recovering misplaced and lost articles.
Recently while I was walking along a busy street I was led to do some protective work for safety. On returning to my office, I found that my wristwatch was missing. I could not recall whether I had worn it that morning; so I declared that whatever belonged to God's divine idea could not be lost, that God had given man all good, and that it is his forever.
A short time later I picked up my purse, which had outside pockets on the sides, and I found that the band on my watch had broken and that the watch had lodged safely in one of the pockets. I rejoiced in the knowledge that my protective work had been effective.— New York, New York.
