Testimony of Healing June 23, 1934 Issue

Christian Science was first introduced into our home when...

Harriet E. Rhodes

Christian Science was first introduced into our home when I was a small child, and for the many blessings which I have received since that time I wish to express gratitude to God and to our beloved Leader.

When as a young woman I entered the business world, I was very desirous of being successful, and acting on the advice of a practitioner, who quoted Christ Jesus' words, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you," I earnestly studied the Bible and Science and Health, had class instruction, and endeavored to put into practice what I had gained through study and teaching. The result was that I progressed and succeeded, and when offered a position of trust and responsibility, I accepted it knowing that I could always turn to Principle for guidance. I was able to hold this position until my departure from the business world. I have had many experiences of protection and instantaneous healing. During the so-called influenza epidemic in 1918, I was able to be in my place, although several of my coworkers were absent on account of illness.

In home life and in the rearing of children I find that the truth, as taught in Christian Science, is able to meet our every need. Minor ailments, such as coughs, colds, bronchitis, measles, and many other discordant conditions, have been quickly healed under Christian Science treatment; and as error is error, no matter in what form it appears, and "Truth is always the victor" (Science and Health, p. 380), a so-called incurable major ailment, known to the medical profession as Addison's disease, has also been healed. My husband had been ill for some time, and though not prejudiced toward Christian Science, he was not ready to depend entirely upon it; therefore he was under the care of several medical men, who could not diagnose his case. When, after two or three weeks of experimenting, he had become so weak that he was about ready to pass on, the disease was given a name and I was told that things indeed looked black, that he probably would not live much longer, and that there was no more that medical science could do. Needless to say, I did not accept this, and at once turned my thought away from the material to the spiritual, and knew that man, made in the image and likeness of God, is spiritual, and lives because God lives; and, as Mrs. Eddy says inScience and Health (pp. 469, 275), "Life is neither in nor of matter;" and also, "Matter has no life to lose, and Spirit never dies." From that time on there was rapid improvement, and much to the surprise of the physician, in three weeks' time my husband was pronounced normal, and was able to be back at his place in the office, though it had been said that he would not be back for at least a year, if then. He now has acknowledged Truth as the healing and saving power, and is enjoying membership in a branch church. For this healing we are very grateful, but for the sense of calmness and fearlessness which I experienced during this time I am humbly and particularly grateful, because it proved again to me the truth of the words in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 277), "No evidence before the material senses can close my eyes to the scientific proof that God, good, is supreme."