I Often Wanted to give a testimony at a Wednesday evening testimony meeting in a Church of Christ, Scientist, but I was fearful. One day while I was praying about this, the idea came to me that giving a testimony is sharing the gift of God's healing love for His precious creation—us, His children, His spiritual image and likeness. Mary Baker Eddy says in Science and Health, "... God, Truth, Life, Love, does heal the sick through the prayer of the righteous." Science and Health, p. 231 I knew it was going to feel good to be able to speak of God's love with others, but I still could not get up and testify. Therefore I continued to pray about this.
Each Wednesday before church, I'd pray to be able to understand why what the speakers said was so very helpful to me. I felt that if I understood this, I would also be able to give a testimony. One evening I realized that listening to the testimonies was actually broadening my understanding of how Christian Science heals. I understood that testifying is caring for others, not simply for myself. By describing the ideas with which I had prayed when in distress, I might help someone else pray about a similar problem. I was beginning to see that my testimony would also give back some love to all those who had given so much love to me through their testimonies. Wow, what a neat idea! I could love all those who had come to that evening's meeting by giving a testimony.
This idea led me to see if Mrs. Eddy had anything to say about testimonies in the Manual of the Mother Church, a book I had recently been reading. I was very impressed by these words I found there: "Testimony in regard to the healing of the sick is highly important." Manual, Art. VIII, Sect. 24. The words highly important helped me understand the reason why Mrs. Eddy set aside a specific part of the Wednesday evening meeting for members of the congregation to speak. Elsewhere in the Manual she indicates this period is reserved for sharing "Experiences, testimonies, and remarks on Christian Science." Ibid., p. 122 The word important pointed to these as necessary or as an integral part of the service. I realized that any testimony I might give would be a necessary part of the meeting. So I was not unimportant, nor was anyone else who testified. We were all an integral or highly important part of the service. I now knew why everyone's comments were so meaningful to me; their testimonies were highly important to Christian Science and thus to God.
