Testimony of Healing June 13, 1908 Issue

I did not come to Christian Science for physical healing...

Agnes M. Bishop

I did not come to Christian Science for physical healing. I came to find God. I had been brought up in the strictest orthodox fashion; taught a God of wrath,—a God who knew sin and evil and health. I asked my father a great many questions about God, and said many things for which he expressed disapproval. When I married and left home, the restrictions regarding my reading were removed. I read what is called "free thought" literature,—works of Ingersoll, Payne, etc. Their logic seemed to me to demolish the structure of theology, but I suffered from this disillusionment. What they said seemed so terribly true. There came, however, a reaction from this, and I returned to the church. I was punctual in attendance on the church services, and I prayed for some recognition of the hunger that was in me to know God, but found no answer. Getting a reputation for piety which I did not deserve, and feeling that I was only a seeker for truth, I again turned away. From that time on I drifted,—believing only in a First Great Cause.

About fourteen years ago I moved into the neighbor hood of a Christian Science practitioner. I soon found she was different from any one I had ever known, and I loved to watch her. I remember once seeing a carriage driven to her door. A lady and gentleman got out, and the driver took the man on his back and carried him into the house. They remained there about three quarters of an hour; then they all walked out, and the lady and gentleman entered the carriage and were driven off. I felt as Moses must have felt when he saw the burning bush,—that I should take the shoes from off my feet, for this was "holy ground." Shortly afterward I called upon a neighbor. She was not a Scientist, but said that she knew the "scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468), and she repeated it. I asked her to write it down for me. She did so, and I took it home and tried to learn it. I studied it carefully for weeks, and accepted it as the truth. I loved it for its positiveness, for its absoluteness, and desired to know more. I went to the Christian Science practitioner and asked her if that was all of Christian Science. She told me of the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and loaned me a copy.

I had been studying this book a couple of months when I was taken with an acute illness. I sent for the practitioner, and she gave me the first Christian Science treatment I had ever received. It was a wonderful experience; I felt sure she was not praying to God in the old orthodox way. A new and wonderful light dawned in my consciousness; a transformation,—a reflection of the thought that God is Love filled my being. After she left I lay for some time thinking about Christian Science treatment, what it meant. Presently I arose and dressed myself and went about my work—I was healed. This experience seemed to be the open door through which I entered the realm of Christian Science. The following year was one of the happiest of my life. I had found God—a God who is Love, a God who knows not evil, who is pure and perfect,—divine Principle. I could not speak of Christian Science without tears. This year was indeed my mount of transfiguration, and I entered enthusiastically upon my work as a Christian Science practitioner. I thought that life to me would henceforth be a pathway of flowers, but I had yet to learn the way; I had yet to learn that error follows closely upon the heels of Truth, and that all we know of truth is what we prove.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

I did not come to Christian Science for physical healing...

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access