Everyone who shares his gratitude as a testimony of healing in either The Christian Science Journal or the Christian Science Sentinel is offering a "tithe," which is defined in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy as, "Contribution; tenth part; homage; gratitude" (p. 595). I am eager to again bring my offering of gratitude, to show how Christian Science has blessed my life.
A few years ago severe pain developed in my right shoulder and arm. I could neither move the arm nor lie down to rest. And I could sit up only with the aid of pillows. Being a lifelong student of Christian Science, I studied the Bible and Science and Health, and turned to the hymns in our Christian Science Hymnal. I also asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me, as the physical problem seemed very real. I had heard this ailment, which appeared to be bursitis, discussed by friends who were not Christian Scientists. They had said that the difficulty kept recurring, even after a person had medical attention. I must have accepted these suggestions of disease as valid.
The practitioner gently encouraged me to realize the truth about God and man. We worked with these statements from Science and Health: "Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies" (p. 162); also: "It is the mortal belief which makes the body discordant and diseased in proportion as ignorance, fear, or human will governs mortals" (p. 209). We also acknowledged that "Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action" (p. 283). As I used the Concordance to Mrs. Eddy's writings in my study, thought was lifted above the stress I had felt under.
