Testimony of Healing November 28, 1914 Issue

It is about fifteen years since I first heard of Christian Science

Barbara S. Banham

It is about fifteen years since I first heard of Christian Science. This wonderful healing came to me at a time when I was sick and sad. I had been a delicate child, and my parents had been given to understand by a doctor that I would probably not grow up, as I had very weak chest, one lung being seriously affected. The doctor had been called in to attend me during a bad attack of gout, to which I was subject, having inherited it, supposedly, together with a tendency to consumption, from which some of my father's family had passed on.

Christian Science was brought to my notice by a criticism in a daily paper, and Science and Health was borrowed from the reading-room. I commenced to read at once, and as I went on I seemed to be fed. Instead of a ceaseless longing for something to satisfy, I was conscious of a feeling of safety and warmth. Everything seemed to take on a fuller, brighter appearance, and in time even the fear of death had vanished; I was sure of God's loving care and protection, and was bright and happy. After a while my attention was brought down to the fact that I was getting strong, and even fleshy.

Some time after this, when I had passed my twenty-second birthday, I was studying the Lesson-Sermon one day, and I paused in my reading to compare the difference in my outlook. Instead of the nameless fear and dread of the future, I saw nothing but good before me. I had come to know God as my best friend, and I had nothing to fear. Then the thought came to me of what the doctor had said about my not being strong enough to grow up, and with a sense of deep gratitude I went to my mother, who was in the next room, and said, "Mother, I have forgotten something." "What is it, dear?" she asked. "I am past twenty-two and have forgotten to die." I was sorry the moment I had said it, because I saw the old look of anxiety pass over her face, and I realized how much the awful fear which had haunted me, had also haunted her; but my sorrow at having hurt her was quickly reversed by the recognition of the fact that the power of Christian Science is indeed omnipotent for good, being able to lift the heavy cloud of fear and anxiety for our whole family.

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