Testimony of Healing January 27, 1923 Issue

My first personal experience with Christian Science...

Clara Mason Stuart

My first personal experience with Christian Science brought me relief from acute inflammation of the eyes, and lifted me out of a tendency to inflamed lids and sties. However, I was one of those who, having eyes, see not; for, though the healing was instantaneous, I passed it by as an episode,—wonderful, indeed, but nothing that should change my religious views.

Some years later, I found myself in desperate need of help, unable to walk, because of a trouble which the doctors diagnosed as sciatica, in constant pain, unable to eat ordinary food, and in a mental condition such that I felt I might as well be dead as alive. These were, in fact, the words which I used to the friend who again presented Christian Science to my thought; but this time I definitely turned from matter to divine Mind, and sought the help of a Christian Science practitioner. Complete healing came by degrees, but certain results manifested themselves at once. From the day I took my first treatment I was able to eat normally. Within two weeks I was putting in regular hours at office work, and walking two blocks to take the street car. There was also a cheerfulness manifest which was most grateful to those around me. Through the faithful work of the practitioner, old modes of thought were laid aside; and I learned to be grateful for every improvement.

In time, I was awakened to the fact that what I needed was not physical healing, but spiritual understanding. I shall never forget the day when this realization came to me. I was sitting in a train, reading Mrs. Eddy's words in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 14), "Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,—neither in nor of matter,—and the body will then utter no complaints," and wearily wondering if I could ever reach such a consciousness. I leaned back and closed my eyes; and in that instant the illumination came—so vividly that I looked out to see if the sun had broken through the clouds. The sky was still dark and lowering, but when I reached my destination I could walk without pain. In the months that followed, the lameness also disappeared and I became a picture of health; for I had learned that God is my strength, and that "the blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing to do with Life, God," as Mrs. Eddy says on page 151 of Science and Health.

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