Testimony of Healing March 11, 1905 Issue

Six years ago last September, I was feeling very despondent,...

Robert Francis French

Six years ago last September, I was feeling very despondent, having had a bad attack of nervous dyspepsia and insomnia, an ailment I had had for about ten years. I had entirely given up hope of ever being well again, because I had been treated by a number of physicians and they had all failed to cure me. I felt as if I had exhausted every remedy, and the only thing left for me to do was to drag out a miserable existence in that condition, and any one who has ever had nervous dyspepsia can appreciate what the future held in store for me. One day, while riding in the street car in this city, thinking very earnestly about the future, the thought came to me very plainly. "Why not try Christian Science? If it doesn't cure you it can't make you any worse." It made such an impression on me, that I went that afternoon to the reading rooms to get some literature,—something that would tell me what Christian Science is, because I knew nothing whatever about it I bought "No and Yes" by Mrs Eddy, and some pamphlets, and read them all that night, but I could not understand them, so I went back the next day to get some others. While I was there I got some others. While I was there I got into conversation with a Christian Scientist who had been healed of an ailment very similar to my own, and before I left I decided to take treatment. I took one every day for five days, and after the third I slept perfectly, something I had not done for years. After the fifth treatment I ate everything I wanted and had a splendid appetite, and the trouble seemed entirely gone; so I stopped the treatments. I soon had another attack, however, which proved that the disease was not entirely overcome, but this second attack was met promptly and destroyed permanently. With the healing came such an overflow of joy that it seemed to me I was submerged in a great ocean of love that could never be exhausted. I walked through the streets as if walking required no effort at all.

Doesn't it seem strange that any one could doubt after such an experience as this? and yet that is just what I did. After two or three months of this glorious uplifted condition I was let gently down to earth again, and then I began to doubt. Error crept in and told me all kinds of foolish things, to which I would listen, not knowing how to distinguish between Truth and error. Because I could not remove mountains and demonstrate the whole of Christian Science. I doubted its Principle, so the next three years I spent groping my way between doubt and belief; but little by little I grasped the truth, and as each ray of light added to my understanding I finally got so I could master the error. When I reached this stage of growth I looked back over the past and could see the mistakes I had made. I could see just where and how I was led by error, thinking it was the truth, and this experience taught me how to guard against error in my future growth.

I am certainly most grateful for what I have received, and I am especially grateful to my teacher for all her loving kindness and patience. I thank God every day of my life for revealing this truth to us through our Leader, Mrs. Eddy. What she must have endured that we might know the truth we will never know. I can only say that I thank God for the privilege of being one of her disciples, and my constant prayer is that I may lead a life that will prove my gratitude for all I have received through Christian Science.

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