Testimony of Healing March 22, 1919 Issue

Christian Science is so regenerative in its influence that...

Annie K. Callaham

Christian Science is so regenerative in its influence that it is almost impossible to tell what it means in one's life without first mentioning the conditions which existed before a knowledge of this great truth was possessed. Prior to knowing anything of this teaching I accepted all the discords of life—ills of the flesh and disappointments—as inevitable, and thought myself at the mercy of circumstances over which I had no control. After having started to work as a young girl, a series of disappointments, together with the duties of the day, resulted in a general breakdown physically,—chills and fever, nervous sick headaches, and stomach trouble. Finally I could work only about two weeks out of a month, and even though I was taking the strongest strength building medicines I could find, my health and strength were not restored. Then a mental depression came on which was worse than my physical condition. I began to pray by night for death and to search for life by day, and the search was begun outside the realm of medicine, for I very early found that it gave not the healing I had hoped for.

It seemed an accident that the book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was put into my hands, but I know now it was a fulfillment of the beautiful promise in Isaiah, "It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." I was glad to learn from the reading of this book that "desire is prayer" (p. 1), for what I really desired was life "more abundantly" and not death, which I had been praying for. I was also glad to learn that it was not necessary to pass through death in order to enjoy the healing and saving power of Christ, and I received a new understanding of God, whom I had ignorantly worshiped. The first reading of the book convinced me that it was a beautiful treatise, and I read it again merely for its educational value and beautiful phraseology. Imagine my surprise and joy when I found the physical discords disappearing without any effort on my part!

For months I had suffered from sleeplessness, but do not recall that I was ever troubled with it after reading this book, neither do I remember when stomach disorder left me; but I do know that I took no thought of what I should eat, but ate anything that was set before me. My strength was gradually restored, so that in two months I took a position in an office, and at the end of the year had missed only two days on account of sickness. The headaches, which had occurred so frequently and had lasted from seven to eight days, appeared only a few times and their duration each time was only a few hours, until they finally disappeared entirely. My eyes troubled me so when I first began reading Science and Health that I was obliged to read a while and then rest them, but they gradually became stronger, and I have never had any trouble with them sincere.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

When Christian Science first came to my notice I was...