"Here I stand, I can do no otherwise; so help me God!...

Ruth-Edith Daum

"Here I stand, I can do no otherwise; so help me God! Amen." I have chosen these glorious words of Luther as an introduction to my testimony because they contain what I feel and desire to express. Previous to my being led to Christian Science I had studied various systems, such as spiritualism, occultism, theosophy, and the like. I was led by degrees from one such group to another, yet without finding any real satisfaction; so finally I stayed away from all such lectures and declined to have anything to do with those teachings, for I could see nothing of any real value in them. When I first heard of Christian Science I mentally put it from me with the thoughts: Why take up another faith teaching which, after all, is fundamentally no different from those you have met so far? You are not likely to find what you are seeking—the true understanding of God. But here the Bible saying, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good," came to my rescue. With a grateful heart I can say that I apprehended and held fast to good, namely, Christian Science, never to let it go.

I was mentally and physically exhausted when this glorious teaching came into my life. It has freed me from mental and physical ills. As a result of pyorrhea all my teeth had become loose. I called on one dentist after another; yet in each case I was told that there could be no healing for me; that the physicians were powerless in the face of this complaint, and that I must be resigned to the loss of all my teeth. This verdict was crushing. In my extremity I turned to Christian Science, and was healed in three treatments. This was about three years ago. I still have my teeth, and, as a result of earnest study and the application of my slight knowledge of this glorious teaching, my gums are now in good condition. For this I am unspeakably grateful to God and to our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy. I am very grateful also for freedom from severe backache, from which I had suffered for years.

Christian Science delivered me also from mental stress in that it taught me to apprehend Truth. I have learned to apply the Scriptural demands, "Love your enemies" and "Bless them that curse you," and this fills me with especial joy. I have also come to understand the Bible verse, "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." I have been through mental darknesses so deep that there were hours when I murmured against God; but through the study of Christian Science I have learned that in every circumstance one is privileged to know himself as the beloved child of God, and that "all things work together for good to them that love God." Daily I thank our dear Father-Mother God that He led me, after many wanderings, to find Christian Science, which gives me more than I ever dared to hope for. I give thanks for the understanding of our Saviour's redemptive mission. I also thank God that He so gloriously prepared our beloved Leader and enabled her to reveal to us the Christ, Truth. Mrs. Eddy's words in the Preface to our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. vii), are deeply impressed upon my memory: "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings." These truly comforting words have done much for me.

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