Testimony of Healing May 13, 1916 Issue

Just four years ago I was healed in Christian Science of...

D. H. Switzer with contributions from Editor, Martin L. Rittenhouse

Just four years ago I was healed in Christian Science of the morphine habit, after having used the drug for eleven years and being a slave to it for nine years. The drug was first given to me by physicians in the East for severe attacks of asthma, after every other known remedy had been tried. My parents spent large sums trying to find a cure for this ailment, but nothing relieved the terrible agony until the drug was used. At first there seemed to be no danger that the habit would be formed, as these attacks were many weeks apart; but they soon became more frequent, so that the last eight weeks spent in my eastern home I sat in a chair day and night, the opiate being administered daily. When I left Vermont the physicians gave my husband authority to administer the drug, as he had had much experience in that line. They also expressed much sympathy for me, saying I would always have to take it.

When we arrived in Chicago I was much better, and this was the time to have stopped taking the drug; but my husband being ill the physician told the nurse that they would not take the drug away from me, as it would help to keep me up. It was only a short time before the asthma returned with greater severity. Many sad things happened as a result of using this drug, one of which I will mention. My husband and myself were both members of a church in Chicago, and the rector made us many visits. One afternoon when he called he found me suffering from a severe attack of asthma and using the opiate. He said: "I have come to excommunicate you and your husband from the church because you have the morphine habit and your husband is administering the drug; but I will put you on three months' probation, and if at the end of that time you can prove to me that you have given up the drug habit, I will welcome you back to the church." I do not mention this with any feeling of resentment, for the man did what he considered was his duty.

A few months later we arrived in Los Angeles, where my husband passed away in a short time. I was left alone among strangers, in ill health, a so-called "drug fiend," and obliged to earn my own living. Believing that my strength depended upon the drug, I used no discretion, and this of course prevented my holding a position for any length of time. This continued for five years, until I was cured in Christian Science. My healing was beautiful and complete. When I went to see the practitioner, I was using an enormous amount of the drug, but in less than two weeks I handed all I had of it and everything that went with it over to the practitioner, never expecting to use it again; and I never have. My sense of suffering during the twelve days that followed was very great, and I ate comparatively nothing. I could not sleep and lost greatly in flesh, but I was clear mentally and was not troubled for an instant.

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Testimony of Healing
It is now five years since I first became interested in Christian Science...
May 13, 1916
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