My blessings are too numerous not to share with others the healings my family and I have had through reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and daily applying the Christ, Truth, it reveals.
For some years after my marriage my health was poor. I underwent several operations, had medical treatment and weeks of therapy of various types. Only hope and blind faith kept me going. After a complete physical breakdown I was hospitalized for two weeks under the observation of the surgeon and five medical doctors. We were told nothing more could be done for me through material medicine and were advised to move to a different climate as a last resort.
We sold our home and moved eighteen hundred miles to a warm climate and settled down, expecting a great change from a life of sickness and inharmony to one of health and happiness. But this was not to be, for my physical condition was only aggravated by loneliness and doubt.
My husband and I came from different religious backgrounds, but we were always compatible in our religious views. We took the only course remaining for us—we turned to God together in prayer. My husband's earnest statement that Jesus healed without aid of medicine or doctors was the deciding factor in seeking spiritual healing. We visited various churches, but they seemed not to provide the spiritual evidence, dignity, and conviction we could embrace.
After several months of searching to no avail, I asked to be taken back home. We left within the week, stopping to visit a friend, who invited us for dinner at what was then the Christian Science Benevolent Association on Pacific Coast. We were taken on a tour of the beautiful grounds and the building. Then our friend told us about Christian Science and Mrs. Eddy, author of Science and Health. My husband, quick to respond, said, "This is just what we are looking for." I was told to go to the local Christian Science Reading Room, borrow Science and Health, start from the beginning, and read it through. If I didn't understand the content, I was encouraged to keep on reading.
Upon my arrival home I followed my friend's instructions. The contents of Science and Health so engaged my thought I could hardly lay the book down. The seed of humility had taken root. There was no prejudice to create doubts as to the validity of the author or her words, no mental reservations—only an open and receptive thought seeking and searching with child-like faith for the understanding of this healing method.
A transformation soon took place. A burst of spiritual light changed my whole outlook on life. My thought was being spiritualized. I no longer accepted as factual the sentence of incapacity. We destroyed all medication, and it was never used in our house again.
My first healing was of chronic constipation. The change took place very shortly after I started reading Science and Health. I was soon healed of the physical breakdown and fatigue. The firm with whom I was formerly employed called me back to work, and in a short time I was given a responsible executive position that exceeded my highest hopes of a successful career and lasted many years. Other physical disorders, such as acute nosebleed, began to fall away one by one. A severe case of sinus infection was healed. A protruding goiter dissolved; sickness and pain from gallstones ceased; and athlete's foot was healed. All of these healings took place in less than a year's time with no other help than reading Science and Health through. There has been no return of any of these physical conditions in thirty-seven years.
Our son was enrolled in the Christian Science Sunday School, and we became regular attendants at church on Sunday and on Wednesday evening. After about a year of study I joined the branch church, The Mother Church, and had class instruction. My first church appointment was serving in the Sunday School.
For some years I had been subject to influenza. At the change of seasons I was often confined to bed as long as two weeks at a time. One Saturday evening I came home with all the symptoms of this malady. Instead of going to bed I turned to "the scientific statement of being" in Science and Health (see p. 468) The condition grew worse, but I continued to pray with this scientific statement for several hours to realize that because God is infinite Mind, disease could in no way be manifested on my body. I had learned to identify myself as a spiritual idea, who could not manifest error. I could see that nothing could be taken from or added to God's spiritual creation.
Soon gratitude flooded my thought as I recalled the words of Christ Jesus just before he raised his friend Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41, 42): "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." As though garments dropped from my shoulders, all pain, fever, and congestion dropped from my body, and I was instantly healed. I had a peaceful night's sleep and was at my post in Sunday School the following morning. I have never had the flu since that day. This was my first instantaneous healing. I look back on this experience many times with conviction that Christian Science heals instantaneously and permanently.
My husband joined the branch church, The Mother Church, and had class instruction. He, too, had many healings, including those of broken bones, a dislocated shoulder, and severe burns. A quick and gratifying healing he had was of a hand crushed in a car door that was slammed shut and locked. He turned at once to Mrs. Eddy's statement (Science and Health, p. 402), "In Science, no breakage nor dislocation can really occur" The pain ceased at once, and all evidence of damage was gone by the following day. When the friend who felt responsible called the next day to inquire of the condition, my husband was working in the rose garden.
Our son was healed of a large growth, which was gently removed from his shoulder when the skin suddenly broke without incision, leaving no scar. This healing came about as we held consistently to the perfection of man as God's idea. He survived a war while on active combat duty, giving full credit for his safe return home to our daily prayer in Christian Science.
We have had many more healings in our family. But with each healing the victory was bringing us closer to God. My daily prayer is gratitude to God for His love and ever-present care for all mankind, for His healing Christ demonstrated by Christ Jesus, and for Mrs. Eddy's obedience to God in writing Science and Health that all may be spiritually educated, blessed, and healed.
Santa Monica, California
I wish to verify my mother's testimony.
I attended the Christian Science Sunday School until I was drafted into the United States Marine Corps at the age of eighteen. While I was in training, I contracted measles and was quarantined in the hospital. To be isolated for any length of time would necessitate my transfer to another company and separate me from the friends I hoped to serve with. My Sunday School superintendent, who was a Christian Science practitioner, was called to give me Christian Science treatment. In three days I was healed and back in my own platoon.
I'm grateful for my Sunday School training. It has given me a fundamental background in Science and supported me on many occasions. I'm sure the daily prayer and treatment in Christian Science were the direct cause of my safe return home from the war.
