Testimony of Healing July 21, 1917 Issue

When Christian Science found me I was in the depths of...

Eleanor B. Paterson

When Christian Science found me I was in the depths of despondency through sorrow and lack caused by long illness of myself and other members of my family. I had been ill for several years, and had spent a lot of money on doctors and medicine without getting any help. The church in which I was brought up taught what is called the doctrine of "free salvation," but I was also taught that you had to bear sickness and pain as best you might, since it was God's will that you should have them. When these troubles came, I found that my religion was of no practical value to me; consequently I grew despondent and gradually came to have only one desire, which was that I might pass on to the next world, where (as I then thought) I would get rid of all my troubles.

It was just then that Christian Science came to me, and I found that the doctrine of free salvation could be applied to sickness and all kinds of discords; that the same remedy which healed sin also healed sickness. At first I did not believe this, and said it was too good to be true. I went, however, to a Wednesday evening meeting, and was astonished beyond measure at what I heard there. The speakers seemed to me to speak in a new tongue, and because they evidently understood what they were talking about, I was forced to believe that there must be some truth in what they said. I therefore asked for Christian Science treatment, and soon found myself so much better in health, so much happier and nearer God, that I knew I had found the truth; but it took me some time to assimilate it.

I studied and prayed earnestly, yet could not demonstrate this truth for myself as I wanted to do. Then I stopped striving and prayed to be shown the error which was keeping me from demonstrating the healing power, and my prayer was answered, as every earnest prayer is. I was shown very clearly that nothing could get into a mind already full (see Science and Health, p. 201), and that in mortal belief I was so full of self-knowledge, self-will, and pride, that there was no room for the truth. Then I saw that if I really wanted to know the truth I would have to get rid of these errors; and though it was far from easy to pull up by the roots beliefs which were of life-long growth, after I had gone through this purifying process I found myself much better able to understand Christian Science.

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