Testimony of Healing May 15, 1926 Issue

Christian Science has given me a reason for existence

Agnes Thornhill Burns

Christian Science has given me a reason for existence. Before knowing anything about Christian Science my thought was constantly questioning: Why are we here? Why the apparent inequalities of existence? And to what end is it all? Seeing so many children who through no fault of their own lacked training, opportunity of any kind, and even necessary food and clothing, I felt that if God had anything to do with it He must be so very unjust that I could not love Him, nor thank Him for the very uncertain comforts which I was receiving. This mental attitude made me unhappy and at last morbid. It seemed to me that there was little justice to be found in human life. Eventually I became ill more and more frequently, until I was forced to give up the profession which I had chosen. Medicine did not help me, and osteopathic treatments relieved me but slightly.

Finally, after several years of semi-invalidism, my mother asked me if I had ever considered trying Christian Science. She sent me a copy of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and explained that I could have help from a practitioner. I began to read, and to rejoice in the idealism which the book set forth and declared to be practicable. I wrote to a practitioner for help, and while physical healings came slowly, happiness began immediately to take the place of gloom in my consciousness. The teaching of Christian Science that all apparent evil is but the seeming reversal of the truth of the universe which God creates and calls good, aroused in me the desire to understand more of this Science.

Since beginning the study of Christian Science, twelve years ago, I have taken no medicine; nor have I used any material remedies. One of the first healings I can recall was that of severe colds and coughs, to which I was subject every winter. Laryngitis has never even threatened me since. Nervous headaches, which were prevalent throughout our family, have now no terror for those of us who have accepted the truth as set forth in Science and Health. Stomach and bowel troubles, believed to have been inherited, have been healed. The former disappeared without my realizing it; but the latter did not yield entirely for years, until my own understanding had grown to the perception of man's real existence as a spiritual idea rather than as material. Fear of the consequences of loss of sleep has been overcome. Many faults of disposition are being removed by this wonderful knowledge that God, good, is all.

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