Testimony of Healing May 9, 1931 Issue

I was reared in a Christian Science home, and my earliest...

Besse E. Hodge

I was reared in a Christian Science home, and my earliest recollections are entwined with memories of the wonderful proofs of the healing power of Christian Science. However, I was much inclined to lean upon others instead of making my own demonstrations, though I never doubted the power of God to overcome any difficulty. After I married and went to a home of my own I came face to face with the fact that Christian Science meant more to me than I had realized; that this truth was woven into the structure of my life, and that I had no recourse but to continue to cling to it if I would have peace of mind. The opposition to Christian Science was very marked in this new relationship, and I was greatly torn between my desire to please my husband and yet remain faithful to what I knew was the truth.

A sad and painful experience at the birth of my child awakened me fully to the need of taking my mental stand for what I knew was right; and as I really did desire to put love for God before all else, I found to my great joy that there was no need to relinquish any right human love and companionship, but on the contrary the relationship was deepened and enriched. I began to see what Jesus meant when he said, "Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life;" for I found it meant giving up the wrong sense of husband and human relationship, and the gaining of a new and better sense, wherein was less of self and more of that expansive love which includes all mankind in its affection.

"Love" was indeed "the liberator," as our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has said in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 225). As I really endeavored to be more patient, loving, and understanding, opposition to the teachings of Christian Science melted away, and to-day both my husband and I regard the understanding of this teaching as the greatest blessing of our lives. This demonstration meant much to me, and has encouraged and taught me that we must never consider anyone as unteachable; that every one of God's ideas loves good and desires it, and that it is the work of those of us who know something of this teaching to live so as to prove what even a little understanding of God does for men. I often think of the far-reaching effect of one consecrated life, for I know my mother's devotion to the truth she found in Christian Science played a powerful part in directing the thought of her whole family to it.

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