Testimony of Healing September 21, 1907 Issue

Possibly ninety-five per cent of those who are now...

Annie Jessen

Possibly ninety-five per cent of those who are now numbered among the ranks of Christian Scientists have been led into Science or have sought it for healing from some physical or mental disorder. My first acquaintance with Christian Science was in 1896, a date never to be forgotten by me. Until the summer of that year I did not know that such a book as Science and Health existed, or that there was a Mrs. Eddy. I was led to read Science and Health from what I then supposed was curiosity, but I soon saw that it was the guidance of Truth, and looking back over the years immediately preceding, I can see how I had been led and prepared for the reception of this great revelation. I had been carefully trained in an orthodox church and still retain a warm affection for those dear people. My mother was descended from generations of earnest Scotch Presbyterians; and although for several years I had a yearning and a desire for a more satisfying religion, I had no thought that I would ever separate from the church of my forefathers. But from my first reading of Science and Health I knew I had found the whole truth, the truth that makes free. That experience always stands out very plainly before me. I was alone during the day a great deal that summer, and I seemed to fairly drink in great soul-refreshing draughts of truth from its inspired pages. At times it seemed to envelop me and completely fill the room with light and peace. From the first I never for a moment doubted the truth of any word, and my only desire was to be able to grasp it, to understand and assimilate enough of it to be able to help others; for this was what I had to begin trying to do immediately.

Although I was led to begin the reading of Science and Health without any thought of physical healing. I must add that during that delightful and never-to-be-forgotten experience of my first reading, without any effort on my part and almost unconsciously to me, my eyes were healed of a complication of troubles which had been pronounced serious by the best oculist in the State, and for which I had worn glasses for several years. I have not had my glasses on since I read our "little book" through the first time; also, at the same time, a lump on my right wrist, caused by an injury years before, disappeared and has never returned. During these years the Bible and Science and Health have been my constant companions.

As wonderful as these proofs of the power of Truth over error were to me, and as thankful as I was and am for them, they have always seemed to me to be of minor importance compared with the spiritual awakening and the uplifting of thought to contemplate altitudes hitherto unconceived of. Although the way has been rugged and steep and the waters through which I have since had to pass have been both deep and wide, yet the light has never ceased to shine. Ever and always it has moved before me, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, steadily guiding to the land of peace, the consciousness of harmony. My constant desire is that I may ever show my gratitude to our dear, brave Leader, Mrs. Eddy, as words cannot express it. I know that this gratitude can best be shown by striving to be the good soil in which the seed she has so carefully and laboriously sown may take root and bear fruit.—Annie Jessen, Nebraska City, Neb.

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