Testimony of Healing April 2, 1921 Issue

Christian Science has given me a reason for the hope I...

Louise Fanny Bodmer

Christian Science has given me a reason for the hope I have always had. From childhood I loved to read the Bible accounts of the healings and miracles which Jesus and his disciples performed, and I had a firm conviction that if we only knew him better, we too would be able to prove that "with God all things are possible." When I was an infant my mother's prayers had saved me from becoming a cripple, and when the physicians despaired of my life her strong faith overcame the last enemy for me, to the doctor's amazement. This may account for the faith I had, which enabled me to put aside crutches later, when after an accident, followed by the most rigorous treatment at a sanatorium, I was obliged to use them for a time. The attending physician prophesied the gravest consequences for this action,—and my healing, which was not founded on understanding but was simply the result of faith coupled with will power, was not permanent; the things foretold and unconsciously feared seemed to come upon me. I put up a brave fight but at times suffered much and had dark visions of becoming an invalid. It was at this time that I became interested in Christian Science, not as a therapeutic agent, however; but having heard it discussed and criticized most severely by people not in favor of its teachings and very poorly defended by one who knew very little of it, I became desirous to know what it taught. While staying in the country, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was lent to me and from the first I realized that it was the truth I had always searched for. Fear of invalidism and the pain I had tried so hard to will away, vanished; what I read filled me with joy, and the thought of being able to be of service to my fellow man was a source of happiness and an incentive to strive for the letter and the spirit of Christian Science.

Extreme nervousness, insomnia, heart trouble, fainting spells, a tendency to take cold, throat trouble, supposedly inherited, and pneumonia, are some of the physical ailments of which I have been healed. One of my limbs, which was somewhat shorter than the other, was elongated, and whereas formerly a short walk fatigued me I have been able to participate in strenuous mountain trips and to walk miles, fully enjoying the exercise and the freedom of man's God-given dominion over such things as palpitation of the heart and fear of high altitude. I was also freed from intense self-consciousness and the fear of meeting people, through the understanding that all are God's children.

But more than all the physical healings, for which of course I am grateful, knowing that they are but the outward sign of growing spiritual understanding, I value the fact that Christian Science has given me a purpose in life. It has answered the many questions about mortal existence that formerly tormented me, it has changed blind faith into understanding, and is teaching me to know myself and to replace the false beliefs of life in matter by the truth about the real Life of man, which is God; it has taught me my relationship to God and man, and has made the Bible a new book for me. The truth of Mrs. Eddy's words in her Message for 1901, "Rest assured you can never lack God's outstretched arm so long as you are in His service," has been proved many times for me. These words have sustained me in moments of great exertion and given me strength to stand firm in the understanding of God's presence when suggestions of sin and disease, fear and death, seemed overwhelming, especially during the war and the influenza epidemic. It is my earnest desire to be ever found in His service.

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