Testimony of Healing March 14, 1914 Issue

In the summer of 1894 I was suffering greatly from rheumatism,...

Ruth V. Brown

In the summer of 1894 I was suffering greatly from rheumatism, stomach trouble, and what was diagnosed as gallstones. I was told by my physician that only an operation could relieve me, but he did not promise me a complete recovery. At that time I had two sisters who were living in the West, and they were Christian Scientists. When they learned of my condition, they wrote and asked me to try Christian Science; but I felt so much antagonism to what I thought it was, that I could not consent even to give it a trial. My sisters, feeling very anxious for me to be healed, and knowing that materia medica was almost powerless in such cases, invited me to pay them a visit. I was then living in the South, and my husband thought the trip would be too expensive were I to take the children with me; and strange to say, much as I loved my sisters and longed to see them, the dislike I felt for Christian Science seemed in a manner to overcome the disappointment of not seeing them, for I felt quite sure that they intended to induce me to try Christian Science. When they found why I could not come to them, however, they sent me a check to defray all expenses, with a request for me to come as soon as I was able. This I was very happy to do.

We arrived about tea time, loaded with medicines, which I began to take before the meal, though my sisters asked if I had not tried medicine long enough. After supper they began to tell me about Christian Science and what it had done for them and others. I listened with the greatest interest and seemed to forget all about my dislike for it, and in a short time I realized very clearly that Christian Science is the coming again of the truth which Christ Jesus taught and which he said would make us free. I was healed before we retired for the night, and "the physical senses" were forced to "give up their false testimony" (Science and Health, p. 192); then I realized so beautifully what Paul writes concerning our transformation through the renewing of the mind.

Prior to this I had reached the place where I could eat only the driest kinds of food, and a very small quantity of them; but the next day my sisters told me to eat anything I wanted, and I did, without any ill effects whatever. No one, without experiencing the change which such a spiritual awakening brings, can imagine the wonderful freedom from almost constant suffering,—the health, peace, and joy which I then realized. I had always been religiously inclined and seemed to have a clear thought of God as my heavenly Father, even in childhood. When old enough, I was an earnest worker in the church of which I became a member, but this beautiful new religion, this Science of Christianity, seemed a step nearer to the kingdom of heaven. No words can express the love and gratitude that fills one's consciousness after such an experience in healing,—love to God and love to man.

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