Testimony of Healing September 26, 1931 Issue

In 1903, while I was living in Chicago, doctors informed...

Charles R. Newman

In 1903, while I was living in Chicago, doctors informed me that I had consumption and that the left lung was gone. They also told me I had catarrh of the stomach and head, as well as pleurisy, with a throat infection, and that I should have to go to Denver, Colorado, if I still wanted to live a short time. I consented, and while there employed physicians by the month, till in the year 1906 I was advised to try Christian Science. I purchased "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, but could not get the meaning; so I went to a practitioner. There I stopped, for I was not ready for the truth; and so I continued with physicians till about 1919, when I decided to run away from it all, and took a position to sell medicines on the road to dealers in the South. While daily hearing of almost every known physical ailment, at night when I arrived at my hotel I would have nearly the same symptoms! But in the morning I had to brace up and go on the same tramp.

One day on a train I met a young man who said, "You know, we live—mother, my three sisters, and I—in Christian Science; and it is so wonderful." He advised me to call on a practitioner and have a talk. I did this; and I remember that I was disappointed, because the practitioner said, "What do you want to do, the same as a friend of mine who runs a drug store and another who runs a tobacco store? They said, 'Can we lock the door up and run away from it?' I said, 'No, when the right time comes you won't be in this business.' " So I left; and I said to myself, "This is funny;" and I went on about the same old business. But I never forgot the words of the practitioner, that when the right time came I should be out of "this business"; and I would pray daily, "Father, help me to reach that time." The day came, for while in a small town in the South I received a letter from the company that employed me. They told me they had changed their policy and would pay no more salaries or expenses, and would advance not a dime. They said that if I wanted to work on my own resources and get a commission on what I sold, I could do so; but if not I should resign. Then I remembered the statement that when the right time came I should be out of it; so I prayed, "Father, show me the way." I drove on, and when Sunday evening came I went to a Christian Science church. On Wednesday evening I went again and heard testimonies of healings of symptoms similar to those of which I was complaining. That evening I went to my room, looked at my medicine chest with about thirty medicines, and I said, "Now is the time;" and the "still small voice" said: "Let go. You cannot hold on to two gods." I destroyed the medicines, and was instantly healed. This was in 1920 and, thank God, I have taken not even a smell of medicine since. I also had the liquor and tobacco habits to overcome, and these were healed at the same time. I truly am grateful to be a member of The Mother Church and of a branch church, for being able to serve in the activities of the latter, and to have had class instruction.

Charles R. Newman, Chicago, Illinois.

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