Public acknowledgment of my gratitude for a healing...

C. Wesson Hawes with contributions from Irene Wright

Public acknowledgment of my gratitude for a healing which came to me many years ago is long overdue. However, every year has added proof of the permanence of the recovery, for it has been about thirty years since the healing took place.

I had been going to a Christian Science Sunday School for only a year or so, when I suffered a fractured skull while playing indoor baseball. Although I was taken to a hospital and operated on, a member of my family who was also studying Christian Science had immediately called a practitioner, who began absent treatment for me. The surgeon who performed the operation, and the local physicians who had responded to the emergency call, held out little hope for my recovery. I was unconscious for a day or more, and completely paralyzed on one side of my body. The doctors, who continued to watch the case, but who gave no further treatment of any sort, said that I could not expect to regain the use of one arm and leg, even if I did live. Every false material law laid down by them was immediately denied by the practitioner.

My recovery was slow, but steady. In about a month I was taken home, in another two months was back in school, and later graduated with my own high school class. I later passed the rigid physical examination of the United States Army, served over a year with the American Expeditionary Forces in France, and have passed physical examinations for life insurance since then, showing how complete the healing was. I also swim, dance, play tennis, and take part in other active sports.

Christian Science has meant a great deal to me, especially in the past fifteen years, during which time I have studied it, taken part in the activities of a branch church, and have had class instruction. I have experienced healings of influenza, nervous breakdown, and colds, and have been witness to innumerable healings of my wife and sons.

I am certainly sincerely grateful to the practitioners who have so lovingly helped me, to the faithful Christian Science nurses, and most of all to Mrs. Eddy for making the teachings of Jesus and the Bible available and practical for use in this day and age.

C. Wesson Hawes, Upper Montclair, New Jersey.

It is a joy to corroborate the foregoing testimony, and to state that I am the sister who called the practitioner to tell her what had occurred. Two doctors and a surgeon gave no hope of a recovery. Well do I remember the practitioner's words, "Mind can never be injured." That she understood the meaning of her statement was proved by the healing which followed. The doctor had told me very plainly that, because of the nature of the accident, it would be better if my brother did not live. What a joy that we may give all the glory to God, from whom, the Bible tells us, comes "every good gift and every perfect gift," and "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning"! The faithful, loving work of the practitioner, and also of the nurse, was deeply appreciated, as well as the unswerving faith of my father, who went with my brother to the hospital. The boy was to all appearances unconscious, but he said later that he had heard his father declaring to him "the scientific statement of being" (Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, p. 468). Later, when rapid progress was being made at home, the surgeon learned that my brother was attempting to walk, and said that an iron brace must be put on his leg immediately. When told that we were relying upon Christian Science treatment, he urged that the boy be given, if not the brace, electrical treatment or massage. I feel that my father's firm stand at this time hastened the recovery, for it was not long before my brother was walking, kicking a ball, swimming, and skating.

For me, the study of Christian Science was from the first a great joy, because it explained what had seemed the mysteries and the contradictions of the Bible, and made it a book I could read and apply to my daily needs. I have had physical healings, and many times have been able to overcome discords which presented themselves, before they could become serious. I feel that first place should be given to the prophylactic effect of Christian Science, which results from the continuous study of our Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly and the other literature. The periodicals are such a wonderful blessing, I do not know how to express what they have meant to me for many years. Membership in The Mother Church is indeed a privilege. I am truly grateful for all these blessings, and to our Leader, who gave so much to mankind.

(Mrs.) Irene Wright, Broomall, Pennsylvania.

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Testimony of Healing

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July 15, 1939

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