I, too, wish to give thanks for the good that has come to...

Emma Scheller

I, too, wish to give thanks for the good that has come to me through Christian Science. In November, 1909, I became very ill. I suffered severe pain in the abdomen, and lost much blood from the bowels. Being unable to sleep, my condition was a most distressing one. I was advised to have medical treatment at once, but as I was very much afraid of being sent to a hospital, I asked whether I might not be relieved in some other way ; for I clung to the thought that God would help me, and my trust in Him led me aright. As I refused to have medical treatment, I was asked if I wanted help in Christian Science—if I wanted to be healed in the way that Christ Jesus healed. I immediately agreed, and a practitioner was requested to take up treatment for me. At first she declared the truth for me silently, and then said that God who is Love does not send disease to His children, that it is His will that they all should be well and happy; that we should bear this in mind, in order to be healthy and remain so. I felt as if all the disease had dropped from me ; I immediately felt a change, and soon was able to sleep for several hours, but as I had taken no nourishment during all these days, I felt a sense of great weakness on giving morning, although I had had a good sleep than for the first time since I had been taken ill.

On account of the firm where I am employed, we had to conform to the law and call in a physician. When he came he stated that it was a severe case of appendicitis, and said that I must go to the hospital the next day. I trusted God, however, feeling that He was my physician and my only help, and that the disease would be destroyed through Christian Science. On that day I applied myself to the reading of the Herold and other Christian Science literature, and the last symptoms of physical discomfort gradually disappeared. When the physician came in the next day, I joyfully told him that I was well. He was very much surprised, and would not believe that I was well, but made an examination, as he deemed it absolutely necessary for me to go to the hospital and have an operation performed. He was astonished that this disease should have been completely healed within a few days. However, as he believed such quick healing to be impossible, he said that he would come again in a couple of days, and then decide as to whether I should go to the hospital or not.

I know that the work done for me in Christian Science freed me from the disease and kept me from being operated upon, and as the Bible says, "the prayer of faith shall save the sick. . . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." The physician was called only to conform to the law, and when he came again after a couple of days he could not help being convinced that I was obsolutely well. During this time I had again read Christian Science literature assiduously, which gave me strength and courage and was my only medicine. I had not followed the prescriptions of the physician, neither had I taken the medicine nor applied the poultices. I took just one close of the medicine after my condition had already improved, not with the expectation of being benefited thereby, but only in order to be able to give the physician an answer which would not embarrass me, in case he should ask me if I had taken the medicine. I know now that this fear of the physician was also an error, and today I would not take medicine for a similar reason.

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