It is eleven years since I first heard of Christian Science...

Hermann H. Trenne

It is eleven years since I first heard of Christian Science at a time when my attitude towards it was very skeptical. I had a certain prejudice against all religious dogma. The almost instantaneous healing of my mother after years of illness, and the rapid restoration to health of my father-in-law, who had been very ill, had been insufficient to convince me, and even my wife's attendance at the Wednesday evening testimony meetings caused me to have an antagonistic attitude toward this teaching.

During a time of stress my wife turned to our Father-Mother God that He might help her. In sincere, silent prayer she prayed, "Not my will, but thine, be done." This was the beginning of my healing. On that Wednesday night I asked my wife if she was going to her meeting adding at the same time that if she wished to go, I had no objections. This experience, and her rapid healing from severe blood poison ing and inflamed lymphatic glands, caused me to reflect and to have the desire and courage to begin walking in the path of the understanding of Truth. The thought, What will your friends and acquaintances say? still appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle; yet after attending two Wednesday evening meetings the desire to attend a Sunday service overcame that timidity. Since that day I have attended regularly.

I soon learned to deny beliefs of illness, but the smoking habit and the craving for alcohol for a long time presented a serious obstacle to my progress. Smoking had developed with me into a persistent passion. One noon about seven years ago it suddenly became clear to me that the use of an unclean toxicant of that sort did not become the child of God; and the desire for it left me. This healing at the same time brought denials of another human belief, the use of tobacco as an anæsthetic for toothache. While I was still very much at ease in error, I often suffered from that painful sensation. When I gave up the one error, the belief of the other left also. A little later I had a similar experience with the use of alcohol. Not my own desire, but rather the recognition of true sonship with God, had convinced me that the craving for alcohol is unnatural; and I have been free from it ever since.

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