Testimony of Healing December 19, 1936 Issue

Before I became acquainted with Christian Science I had...

Frederick C. Crowther

Before I became acquainted with Christian Science I had for a period of almost thirty years accepted a belief in agnosticism. I had no knowledge of God and little use for the Bible, except to quote its seeming contradictions. For several months in 1930 and 1931 I suffered severely from pain in my head and ears, and finally was informed by a physician that an operation for mastoiditis was necessary. A medical practitioner who examined me expressed the opinion that an operation was useless—the condition was so far advanced that he considered I could not live more than three months. However, on a subsequent Friday an operation was agreed upon, to take place on the following Monday morning.

During the Friday evening, when my family were feeling distressed at the prospect, my elder son, who knew something of the healing power of Christian Science, persuaded a neighbor to lend me the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. After a few words respecting the healing of her son by Christian Science, this neighbor left the book with me, with the remark that "man's extremity is God's opportunity," a remark which at the time I resented as being an insult to my intelligence.

Later in the evening I picked up the book, and after a cursory glance through its table of contents and pages, I put it down, only to find myself quickly drawn to it again. This intermittent reading continued; the book impressed me as the most peculiar I had ever read. The next day I found myself unable to leave the book alone, and I spent a great deal of time with it. At night, being unable to sleep because of intense and ever-increasing pain, I resolved to sit up, and gave instructions that in the event of an anticipated collapse I should be immediately removed to the nursing home. For several hours I read passages from the textbook, and in the early hours of the morning, as a result of reading the chapter on Prayer, I decided there and then to pray as described therein. I had not prayed for thirty years. I fell asleep, and at eight o'clock next morning awoke free from all pain and with fear eliminated from my consciousness.

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