Testimony of Healing February 2, 1929 Issue

From girlhood's days I was a seeker after Truth

Louie M. Coade

From girlhood's days I was a seeker after Truth. I felt convinced that God is Love; yet, how could one prove it in the face of so much conflicting testimony? Every year for fifteen years the Bible was read through from cover to cover, and earnestly I threw myself into "good works" of every description; yet a satisfying religion was not discovered. I married a minister and studied theology with him, and obeyed the supposed dictates of duty in his various parishes very assiduously. I prayed about everything, and God in His love answered many of my prayers; yet peace was but a transient guest, for life's deepest problems were unsolved. In spiritualism and theosophy I sought God, but found Him not. As I had much nursing of the sick to do, and was myself always delicate, nature cures, herbal remedies, and osteopathy were studied and resorted to; but nothing satisfied the heart's deepest instincts. Christian Science was presented to me, but I refused to investigate its teachings, and read everything antagonistic to it and to its Discoverer and Founder, Mary Baker Eddy.

Meanwhile physical sufferings increased. For fourteen years after our first baby came, as a result of injuries at its birth I never knew what real health was. Paralysis of the lower bowel induced sagging and stoppage in the abdomen, and frequent blinding sick headaches. As other children came, my difficulties were increased. Then Christian Science knocked at the door again, and I learned through a loyal and loving student, then visiting our town in the southwest of Ireland, what the truths discovered and taught by Mrs. Eddy really are, and that Christian Science could heal me as it had healed him. His sincerity appealed to me, and I humbly began to read the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and bought a copy for myself. Understanding little, for my inward eyes were blinded by false theology and material so-called healing practices, I yet resolved to trust God absolutely; and in eight days normal functioning of the bowels was established, and I was healed. Shortly afterwards the sick headaches vanished, and I witnessed other wonderful healings in the case of friends. My joy and gratitude were unspeakable.

This period of exaltation was followed by a descent into the valley; for there was bitter family opposition to Christian Science, and we lived in a remote district where I had no one to help or guide me. Here was the tempter's opportunity!. A friend came on a visit bearing in triumph a ponderous book which was to make everything clear that seemed difficult in Mrs. Eddy's teachings, and to lead everybody higher! Ignorantly and innocently I drank of its adulterated waters, for I felt great need of guidance and teaching. For years after that I followed a "hireling" shepherd, and found myself among wolves in sheep's clothing before I come to see, through much suffering and bewilderment, that there is but one door into the sheepfold and "none may pick the lock nor enter by some other door" (Science and Health, p. 99). Mrs. Eddy tells us that "there is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way" (ibid., p. 242). I thank God that I was led back to the sheepfold, where the sheep know the voice of the shepherd and "know not the voice of strangers."

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