Testimony of Healing May 28, 1938 Issue

My first experience in Christian Science, over twenty-two...

Alvina R. Fichtner

My first experience in Christian Science, over twenty-two years ago, was a healing of inflammation in the hip joint, through the reading of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. This trouble had followed me from babyhood, at which time I had what is called white swelling and was carried on pillows for a year. The medical law at that time was that the condition would develop into tuberculosis of the bone, and that the case was hopeless. My father and sister passed on with tuberculosis. I broke down completely twenty-four years ago, while nursing this sister.

For two years I was a semi-invalid, spending most of my time on the bed. The leading surgeons of the city ordered me to wear constantly a heavy brace of steel and leather. When I left the bed, during those two years, I used crutches, my right foot never touching the floor all that time. Several of the surgeons called it tuberculosis periostitis, a disease of the covering membrane of the bone. Others said it was tuberculosis of the bones, and were planning to drain the abscesses in the hip by inserting silver tubes, and to put me into a plaster of Paris cast, from the hips down. I had sanatorium treatment in Texas, also treatment from a renowned Mexican specialist, but all they could do was to give me opiates to quiet the acute and constant pain.

Then in April, 1914, a friend gave me a copy of Science and Health, and asked me to read the chapter on Prayer. But it seemed I was not yet ready, for five months passed before I even opened the book. However, after I began reading I soon saw that I had found what my heart was longing for. I read all day and far into the night. I studied as I read, making my own concordance, for I did not then know that concordances were to be had. I read straight through the book, from cover to cover, and the truth of Mrs. Eddy's statement that Christian Science "changes the secretions, expels humors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores carious bones to soundness" (Science and Health, p. 162) was proved, for three weeks before Christmas I suddenly found myself free. I put the crutches and brace aside and walked five blocks alone, spending the day with the friend who had given me the book. I have enjoyed good health and have never had a pain since this healing took place.

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