Testimony of Healing March 22, 1930 Issue

Having experienced many blessings during the past ten...

Jessie Margaret Barnhill

Having experienced many blessings during the past ten years from Christian Science, I feel that I should like to express my gratitude in one of the periodicals, for I have been helped and encouraged many times by reading the testimonies of others. On first coming into Christian Science I was healed of heart trouble, neurasthenia, and insomnia. I had been under a doctor's care, and was taking five medicines three times a day, and one medicine every two hours. I had not slept naturally for four months, and the drugs that were supposed to produce sleep had lost their effect on me. I now see that it was because I had lost faith in medicine.

I remember so well the first time I read in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy: I had prayed very earnestly all the morning to God that if it was His will for me to die, I would not mind, if only He would show Himself to me. A short time afterward a neighbor came to my door and offered me Science and Health, at the same time saying that she had known of people being healed through studying it. I had heard of Christian Science before, though in a rather vague way, and had never thought of it for myself until then; but, as has been the case with many others, my extremity was God's opportunity, and I felt that this was the answer to my prayer. I read the chapter on Prayer and a wonderful peace came over me. I fell asleep and slept all night like a child. Later, I was healed of severe headaches and neuralgia with a practitioner's help. I was very happy in my new-found religion, happy to know that God's will for us is always good.

About a year and a half after coming into Science I seemed to manifest at childbirth a severe dropsical condition. The physician who attended me declared my condition to be hopeless. After a consultation with five of the best doctors in that city he said I could not live, as a patient had never been known to recover from a condition such as I was in. He also insisted on my being removed to a hospital at once. When I told him I was a student of Christian Science and was sure I would be all right he said, "Well, we are glad people have Christian Science, but this is one time when Christian Science cannot do you any good." Thanks to God, and to the faithful work of the practitioner, I had no fear whatever. I remember so plainly that the last thought I had when I seemed to be losing consciousness was, There is only one consciousness and that is God's, and though I pass through "the valley of the shadow of death, ... thou art with me." I felt God's presence very near. The doctors would not allow my dear friend to be with me because she was a Christian Scientist; but, unlike her, they did not know of the omnipresence of divine Love. She worked for me faithfully in Science while I was at the hospital, my husband reporting my progress to her each evening. I was unconscious for three days, but when I awoke I felt peaceful and refreshed. The nurse brought me my twin babies, and informed me they were three days old. When the doctors saw I would live they declared I would be paralyzed; but to their surprise I improved steadily and rapidly, and the doctor who attended me said that my case was a miracle. He did not order any medicine for me. During my illness my husband was also free from fear, due to the work of the practitioner. On the tenth day I was able to leave the hospital and return to my home to take up the duties of caring for it and my children. I grew strong quickly, and although the twins seemed puny and delicate at first, they soon became healthy, fine-looking babies.

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