Testimony of Healing December 7, 1912 Issue

About sixteen years ago I first heard of Christian Science,...

Clara L. Naugle with contributions from J. Parker Naugle

About sixteen years ago I first heard of Christian Science, and when I remember the many blessings that have come to me and to my family, I not only feel it a privilege but a duty to give my testimony that others may see it and be benefited by it. When Christian Science found me, I was not only a physical wreck, but I was so burdened with cares and trials that I hardly knew which way to turn. I had been left alone with two small children to care for, and one of them was an invalid, suffering from what is known to materia medica as infantile paralysis. He also had dreadful spells with his head, said to be caused by an abscess at the base of the brain. He had had the best medical aid that money could procure, but only seemed to grow worse, and would have unconscious spells, sometimes as many as twelve in a day. Finally, one of the most noted physicians in Michigan told me that he could only give me something to relieve the child's suffering when he had trouble with his head, and that when the abscess broke he would pass away; so after each bad spell I would look for the worst to happen. With it all I was obliged to earn our living, as home and everything had been swept away by financial reverses, so I associated myself with a publishing house in New York city, which of course cbliged me to travel a great deal.

In one of the large cities of the middle West I met a lady who told me about Christian Science and how it had healed her. I listened, but am sorry to say that it did not make any impression on me, and I finally told her I had come to the conclusion that there was no God, and I thought she would probably have gotten well anyway. I felt I had reason for thinking so. When I was only five weeks old, my mother passed away, leaving eight children. My father lived only a few years after, and as I was among strangers I do not remember him. As I grew up to the age of reason I often talked on this subject of both parents being taken (especially my mother, for I felt sure it would have been different with my father had my mother lived), and I argued with my elders that a loving God, being all-powerful, would not permit such a thing to happen when He could have prevented it as well as not. Many times I was told that I was not to question God; that my dear mother was too pure for this world, and that God in His wisdom and mercy had taken her to Himself. Then I would say, "But what about the little five-weeks-old child, who was surely just as pure? why did He not take them both?" As I look back on my life at that time it seems like a very bad dream, and now I know that this was all it was. I do thank God, and I am deeply grateful to Mrs. Eddy, who was good enough to be an avenue for this truth that has come to me, and this is the way God prepared me to accept the truth when it was presented to me the second time.

It so happened that I was obliged to take my children and go to eastern cities, and before starting I laid in a supply of medicines for this sick child, as I felt that no other doctor would understand his case like this particular one; but on leaving the sleeper on reaching our destination, I forgot to take the medicines I had put under the pillow. We arrived early in the morning on the 4th of July. It was very warm, and we had only gotten comfortably settled in our boarding-place when the child began to feel ill, and it was then I missed the medicine. There I was, in a strange city, with very little money, no friend, and without God or seemingly any help in the world. Finally I turned to my little girl and said, "Let us say the Lord's Prayer, and if there is a God. I believe He is right here and will help us in our trouble." We did so; and my surprise can be imagined when the child went to sleep and slept for several hours, getting up refreshed and free from pain. From that time on I was convinced there is a God and that He is an ever-present help in trouble. A few days after this I called on a public school teacher, and in our conversation I mentioned the matter, for it was on my mind all the time. After she had heard my story, she took my hand and said, "You are on the right road, but you need help;" and then she told me that she was a Christian Scientist and had been healed through this teaching.

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