Testimony of Healing January 7, 1911 Issue

It is with great thankfulness that I send my testimony...

F. S. Iliff

It is with great thankfulness that I send my testimony to tell what Christian Science has done for me. For many years past my eyesight had been getting steadily worse, and the eye specialists whom I consulted in various places were agreed that it was absolutely necessary for me to wear glasses. As I am a sailor, and at that time was captain of a steamer, the wearing of glasses at sea was out of the question, so I had made up my mind that I should have to give up my profession, and the question of what I could do for a living gave me many an hour of anxious thought.

On my last voyage I went to Australia, and when at Newcastle, N.S.W., I heard a great deal about the wonderful healing work that was being done through Christian Science, and learned that a brother of mine living at Brisbane had been healed from worse eye troubles than I was suffering from. I thought a good deal about these accounts, but I felt that it would be too much for me to expect to have such a wonderful thing happen to me as to have my eyesight restored after so many doctors had told me there was no hope that my eyes would ever get better. I am, however, thankful to say that I wrote to my sister who is a Christian Science practitioner in Brisbane, and asked for help. Before I sailed from Newcastle I received from her some Christian Science literature, a letter full of helpful truths, and a promise that she would do what she could for me. I was bound to Valparaiso, and when about half way across the Pacific ocean, some two thousand miles from Australia, I was sitting in my cabin one evening, reading a copy of the Sentinel, and it seemed that the glasses I was using (which I had got at New York a few months before) were not clear. It was difficult to read with them, although they had suited me first-rate. I took them off and cleaned them, but they were no better. The thought then came to me that perhaps my eyes were all right again and that I did not need the glasses, so I took them off and went on reading. I found after two hours' reading that my eyesight was perfect, and I have never used glasses since.

I cannot attempt to tell of the joy, the gladness, that I felt when I found that I too had been healed. It seemed too good to be true, but there was no doubt about it. The healing of this physical trouble gave me great joy, but the uplifting thoughts that came to me at that time caused far greater joy than anything else. I had given up all attempts at trying to lead what is called a religious life, because I was taught that God had sent all my troubles for my good, and I had others besides the bad eyes; therefore I thought it was no use to try to get clear of them, but that I must put up with them as best I could. There were many times when I felt so despondent and weary of it all that I would have been glad to have had the end come. I am now striving daily to understand more of Christian Science and to put into practice all that I learn. I find the errors of many years' standing are not easily overcome, but when I get a bit discouraged I have only to think of that memorable evening when the truth set me free, and I am then encouraged to keep on with the fight, for I am certain that God, divine Love, will meet my every need.

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