Testimony of Healing December 12, 1914 Issue

In reading the seventeenth chapter of Luke we find that...

Oscar Graham Peeke

In reading the seventeenth chapter of Luke we find that of the ten lepers who were healed, only one returned to give glory to God; and I feel that unless I give my testimony so that others can derive some benefit from it, I have not been truly obedient. Christian Science has done so much for me during my five years' study, that my heart is full of gratitude to our dear Leader, through whose teachings, as set forth in the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," I have been raised from the grave. Though seemingly dead to spiritual understanding, I have learned in Christian Science that to know God is life eternal.

When I was a child I never wanted to go to church, and while I had a lovely Christian mother, she could only tell me that I ought to go because it was right. Still, I never could see where she derived any benefit from her way of thinking, so I refused to follow in her footsteps. By the time I was sixteen years old I had become so bitter against churches that I had no use for those who professed to belong to one. I had no desire to read the Bible, and never did. It is said that an infidel has some kind of a god that he worships, but if I had any, I do not know what it was, for I did not care for anything or anybody, not even for myself. In fact, I tried to make away with myself once, though not because I thought it would end all, for I did not think that far ahead. After my mother passed on, I thought I would go to church and try to believe there is a God. I was following the theatrical profession at the time, and as soon as the minister discovered I was in the church, he began to attack the stage, and that made me more bitter than ever. A few years later I married, but was so unhappy because of my disposition, that I would get despondent and remain so for a week at a time, having hysterics followed by nervous prostration. When people did me an injury I never forgave them, and I had very few kind words to say about any one. My temper seemed uncontrollable.

While in St. Louis visiting some friends who were interested in Christian Science, I attended First Church with them and found just what I wanted. I read and studied Christian Science, and tried to live up to the truth it teaches, just as a drowning person reaches out for something to save him. I once read that Abraham Lincoln said he would never join a church unless he found one whose members "loved their neighbors as themselves," so I decided I never would either. Therefore it is easy to understand how grateful I am to have found that church. I have been able to overcome evil with good, and to love my neighbor as myself. The Bible has opened a new life to me, and it is my everpresent help in trouble. Christian Science has brought me many friends, also happiness, prosperity, youth, and a love for everything that has life.

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