Testimony of Healing April 13, 1935 Issue

I wish to express my gratitude for Christian Science and...

Van Willard Tyler with contributions from Frances Erwin Tyler

I wish to express my gratitude for Christian Science and for some of the many blessings which I have received through its study and application. Having grown up in an orthodox church, I imbibed the beliefs about God and fallen man, heaven and hell as localities, and the devil as a real being. I had also been trained to believe that Mrs. Eddy was an impostor and that Christian Science was the work of the devil; so that later, when it was presented to me, my thought was filled with bitter antagonism. But "man's extremity" became "God's opportunity."

When visiting our daughter at her home, my wife was taken very ill with what specialists pronounced to be a very serious case of appendicitis. She was rushed to the hospital and in less than two hours was on the operating table. During the operation it was discovered that she had a malignant tumor, or cancer of the intestines. The surgeons could go no farther, and informed me that nothing could save her—that she could not possibly live over three months. They advised that as soon as her condition was such that she could be taken from the hospital, I take her to our home in California and make her as comfortable as possible until she passed on. After six weeks of their loving care we were able to get her home. Friends, hearing of her condition, called on her and spoke of Christian Science, holding out to her the sure promise of healing if she would read the textbook. Knowing how bitter I was against Christian Science and its Founder, she was afraid to ask me to take her to a practitioner for help. But after a few days she pleaded with me to take her to the practitioner of whom she had heard. I felt that her even asking me to discuss Christian Science was an insult to my intelligence, but after a battle with myself I finally took her to the practitioner and was much surprised to find him a very intelligent, loving, normal individual. Everything went very smoothly until he mentioned Mrs. Eddy and what Christian Science would do through her teaching. The result was that I became incensed, and because of my insulting remarks we went away without the treatment for which my wife had gone. Because of my conduct her condition became worse, both physically and mentally. The next day the same friends called again, and after hearing her story presented her with a copy of Science and Health, which she endeavored to read, but finally she made another appeal to me, saying she did not wish to die, and if there was anything in Christian Science that would save her, would I not try to help her to obtain it by reading Science and Health with her. This insulted me even more than previously, with the result that I had another battle with myself. After going to my room and facing the situation squarely, analyzing my attitude, I realized that it was really a very small expression of love that I was called upon to make, and that I should do at least that much for my wife. I promised to read the textbook with an open mind and to search for any help that might be there.

The result was that we both began to read and study the textbook, starting with the quotations given on the flyleaf preceding the Preface, which impressed me very much. I then turned to read the opening lines of the chapter on Prayer, where this wonderful statement is made: "The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love." I was greatly pleased with this, because it did not mention Christian Science. This opening statement appealed to me because I believed in God, I believed in Christ Jesus, and believed in the Bible, and was endeavoring to get a spiritual understanding of a "key" to the Scriptures, which the textbook promised.

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