I desire to tell my first experience in Christian Science, with...
I desire to tell my first experience in Christian Science, with the hope of helping some one as the testimonies of others have helped me. On Dec. 2, 1910, I was a complete wreck, having lived a number of years in the tropics and contracted what was termed a complication of diseases. As I had tried many doctors without any permanent benefit, I had completely lost faith in materia medica and expected my time had come, for I felt certain I could not last many days; then a friend, who had never talked Christian Science to me before, said that if I had lost faith in medicine, I had better try Christian Science. My reply was, that I knew nothing about it. He then told me that Christian Science had helped him and his wife, and knowing it could do me no harm, I consented to take treatment. He recommended a practitioner who was about four hundred miles away, and wrote to her asking that she treat me at once, as I was suffering greatly.
In about three days I received a letter from the practitioner, but the suffering had ceased before the letter reached me, and I was feeling more cheerful than I had felt for months. I continued treatment for three weeks, when I decided to stop, as I was feeling so well. The healing seemed wonderful, but the spiritual uplift was even more wonderful. In my younger days I was a Bible student, but from all I learned it led me to believe, after attending nearly all the different religious denominations in my search for an understanding which I failed to find, that I must wait for death to solve the problem. I stopped going to church, and the Bible was a closed book for years, as I did not again resume my study of it until I began to read it in connection with "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. Through the understanding thus gained I have overcome every ill, also some bad habits, such as an ungovernable temper, which besides being very unpleasant for my friends, would sometimes leave me prostrated for hours. Profanity and the tobacco habit of at least twenty years were also overcome.
These are only a few of the many benefits I have received in Christian Science, and I have gained sufficient understanding to enable me to help others. My wife and mother, neither of whom had any previous knowledge of Christian Science, have also gained an understanding of the truth and can help themselves. This has all been done by reading the Christian Science literature, as none of us have ever been to a church service or to a Christian Science gathering of any kind.
Words are inadequate to express the deep gratitude I feel to that dear good woman who so faithfully followed Jesus that she saw and understood his teachings sufficiently to interpret them and give us a rule so plain that all who will may avail themselves of God's blessings here and now.
Edward F. Gibson, Gatun, Canal Zone.
The Lord "is my refuge and my fortress: ... in him will I trust;" and though I have found myself disheartened, discouraged, and full of fear, time and time again, these words of the psalmist have invariably lifted me up, and I have found consolation and peace to the degree in which I learned to trust. It was very hard for me to lay aside all my old beliefs and fears, my own wishes and desires, but when I finally learned in Christian Science that "thy will be done" did not mean that I must learn to be glad for physical or mental miseries, or that I had to sit patiently under affliction, the burden left my heart, and I began to grow in truth. I learned that only good can come, only good does come, from God, and that "all things work together for good" to those that love Him.
My heart yearns to the young student just coming into the truth, trying to reconcile what seem bad conditions to the new-old thought, trying to shut out false beliefs in a moment and growing weary at seemingly slow progress. To these I would say that I have found much encouragement in reading the testimonies of others, and I have always looked upon the Sentinel as a beacon of light, opening up for me the way each week, breaking the road that I might walk a little father on.
I did not come into Christian Science for physical healing, but through a great trouble which involved human love; and fear mastered me utterly, for though I had heard of Christian Science, I had only ridicule for it, and it had been years since I had even thought of it. But when this great blow fell on me, I called up some Christian Science people whom I knew very slightly, and asked if they would help me. They were not practitioners, but through their understanding of the truth, conditions were bettered. The next day and that night I slept soundly for the first time in ten days.
Since that time I have met much and overcome much, and though still confronted with many problems, I have learned that fear and trouble and worry are of themselves nothing, and must and do vanish into nothingness. Our dear Leader's life has taught me how much we can overcome if we trust in God and know Him aright, and that no struggle is too great for us if we trust in divine Truth.
Mrs. Eddy achieved a stupendous work, and my heart is full of gratitude to God that I could live in this age and get the benefits of her wonderful attainments. My husband is also a student of Science and Health, and I am so thankful for this great blessing, and also for the Christian Science literature,—thankful to God, and grateful to Mrs. Eddy. I trust this will help some one along the way who, though recognizing the truth, yet finds it hard to reconcile it with present experience. The "rough ways shall be made smooth," and "green pastures" will be ever before us, if we follow the way of Truth.—Mrs. Elmere Brown, Pacific Beach, Cal.
