For some years I have had the privilege of enjoying...

For some years I have had the privilege of enjoying and being helped by the many earnest and convincing testimonies of healing which I have read in the Christian Science Sentinel and Journal. Many times have they been just the inspiration and encouragement I seem to have then needed, so that it is natural that I should desire to add my words of gratitude for all that Christian Science has been to me, and my daily appreciation of its ever present power to bless.

Having been brought up from early childhood under material medicine, and having "suffered many things of many physicians," I naturally hailed with interest the first mention of Christian Science, which came to me through a friend who was not a Christian Scientist and did not know much more about it than the mere name but who was interested in my welfare and asked why I did not try it. I had always been very devoted to religious subjects and had been a member of a denominational church since girlhood. I grasped with delight the idea of seeking Christian Science help, not in the least knowing what it stood for but having a vague sense that it had something to do with religion. The old teaching did not give me what I was seeking, "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding," and I was discouraged, yet I clung to my blind beliefs, while constantly longing for a larger understanding of God and the Scriptures. The first glint of Christian Science into my thought brought a sense of mental disturbance, which I did not then realize was "chemicalization," but this was followed by such a sense of joy as I had never known before, making the daily unfoldment of the truth a continual feast and blessing. I shall never forget the wonderful feeling over my first demonstration when I was a very young student of Christian Science. The memory of it has been most helpful to me during these many years of progress, encouraging me when in doubt, and giving me a clearer understanding of Christian Science.

I was subject to many attacks of the grip which usually kept me in bed for many days before recovery was considered sufficient to allow me to be about as as usual, making the period of convalescence almost as unpleasant as the disease. While experiencing one of these attacks I sat down to dinner one day and during pauses in the conversation was deep in thought, trying to gain a clear understanding of the divine power that heals. It came to my thought quite suddenly that God never made sickness and that this disease had nothing to do with me in any way, and that because God could not be sick, man, His image and likeness, could not be. The vision of Truth was so clear that I arose from that table healed, fever gone, aches and pains vanished, and no time to be wasted on convalescence, for there remained nothing from which to recover. How truly that Scriptural sentence was then fulfilled, "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword." That instantaneous healing, which was my first real proof that Christian Science heals quickly, filled me with joy and gratitude, especially when I felt that I was free from the bonds of material medicine. I have been healed of many ills since that first glimpse of Principle and have also been able to help others in some ways. In ways too numerous to mention have I and my household been sustained, protected, and blessed, through trials of illness and sorrow, by Christian Science, which teaches us that God is ever present and that our needs are met.