Testimony of Healing January 18, 1908 Issue

It was by a gradual growth into the understanding of...

Lewis R. Stoy

It was by a gradual growth into the understanding of the teachings of Christian Science, that I was able to experience the peace and assurance which come "with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth" (Science and Health, p. 333). From early life I had been a member of an orthodox church, and was taught that God is Love, but that He is also a God of vengeance. I had always been active in church work ; had been for over ten years superintendent of a large Sunday School, and loved the service of the Master, trying to follow his teachings as I understood them, but the continual appearance of trouble and disappointment in my life led me to think that for some cause I was being either disciplined or punished. I could not reconcile myself to the fact that I received no answer to my prayers of supplication, but through it all I retained my belief in God. Formerly I had localized God, had unconsciously given Him a form, and associated with Him two other beings of only a little lower power ; then I grew into the understanding of God as a presence, as the Supreme Being who was all powerful; but I was still unable to understand the quality or nature of this Being.

As this time I met with an accident which came near costing me my life. I was compelled to use crutches or a cane for over a year, and it was during this time that more financial and business trouble came to me. My wife had become interested in Christian Science through reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" to an invalid, and being convinced of the truth of Mrs. Eddy's teachings, she determined to find out all she could of this Science. I was impressed with her absorbed interest in this study and application of its teachings, and would occasionally read from Science and Health or from The Christian Science Journal; but the old faith of my fathers, and the church relationships of a lifetime, were too strong to be easily broken, and I gave up the reading.

As my condition, both physical and mental, continued to be discouraging, I at last consented to consult a Christian Science practitioner. Previous to this time I had seen many proofs of the truth of Science in my own home,—in the overcoming of sickness and pain that had formerly confined the patient to bed, although an alarming amount of medicine was taken ; and in the instantaneous demonstration over a severe blow and cut on the head and face. I saw that results were being obtained from my wife's understanding of Christian Science, and the application of its rules, which seemed to be demonstrated with mathematical accuracy; while I was receiving no benefits,—no results from my way of thinking. I went to the practitioner with little hope of relief for myself, for while I could see the benefits derived by others, and believed that God could do all things if He would, the old theology still ruled my thought, and I had come to believe that I must be resigned to the will of God, and that His will was not for my present relief. I, however, entered on the course of reading given to me, with the determination to put aside all preconceived opinions about God, to keep my thought open and receptive, make an unbiased investigation, and see just what it was that Christian Scientists believed and why they believed it.

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