Testimony of Healing June 22, 1918 Issue

Words can never express my heart's deep gratitude for...

Matilda Johnson with contributions from Clara B. Whitney

Words can never express my heart's deep gratitude for the great truths Christian Science has brought to me. I was always considered a strong woman and loved to do almost all kinds of work on the farm, but I was alone, as my son was a telegraph operator and away from home most of the time. Through work and worry I began to decline in health, and my condition became worse, until I was a nervous wreck, and spent most of my time in bed. My neighbors tried to help me, but I fell into such mental distress that my only relief was just to scream and cry. My son left his position to care for me, but I would not allow him to work; all he did was against my protest.

Finally the doctors planned to take me to a hospital for the insane for treatment. This so worried me that I contemplated suicide. Seeing my deep distress, my son promised to do all in his power to help me remain at home, and said he would stay by me. I was in this condition for five years; I could not endure having water touch my flesh, and did not take a bath, nor comb my hair in all those years. At last I was stricken with partial paralysis, and the doctor who was sent for declared my time was short, saying he could do me no good. Other physicians said my case was incurable, but my son said he wanted to try one thing more. Knowing I was not opposed to Christian Science, he sent for a practitioner, who lovingly told me of the precious truths contained in this, to me, new religion and began treatment. One morning I awoke to the fact that I was much better. The day was bright, and I arose, feeling like a child taking its first step; I did well, and in a few days the paralysis was gone. I continued to improve. First I began to notice my unkempt condition, and each day I kept brushing back the tangled mop of hair; then I saw, too, that I needed some clean clothes. It seemed as if I was awakening from an awful dream.

After about three weeks' treatment the practitioner said to us, "God's work is even now done." She brought a neighbor in one Thursday to help her. I shall never forget that day. They brought dinner with them, then they began to clean my house. While they worked, I too, for the first time in five years, felt a desire to work. I took a clean table cloth from a drawer, got out dishes, and set the table. In the afternoon they cut my hair. I took a bath, and was dressed in new clothes. The next day I cut out a dress and did the first sewing since my collapse. The following day I set the cream for churning. It was not long before we were housekeeping again; for on Saturday my Christian Science friends gave me a "kitchen shower," even papered the walls and painted the ceiling, until my dismal home was made new for a new child in Christian Science. Over three years have passed since this healing. I have been doing all the housekeeping and lots of farm work, and my son has his former position back again. Other ailments have come up, but through the power of Truth they have disappeared. The uplift from wrong beliefs about man and God is grand to me.

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