I should like to give thanks for my first healing in...

Erika Mendler with contributions from Ida Mendler

I should like to give thanks for my first healing in Christian Science. From my childhood I had suffered from a wearisome skin eruption, with which there was much itching. Every fall this disease made itself noticeable, reached its height in February, not to disappear until summer. During schooltime the painful boils were especially unpleasant and had a depressing effect. My parents tried to find a cure for me in all sorts of ways. We tried one cure after another—specialist, homeopath, nature-cure doctor; in fact, we left nothing we knew of untried. Often the effect was the very opposite of that sought, so that the condition grew worse. But when improvement came it was only a temporary relief, never a complete healing. The condition continued to my twentieth year, when our attention was called to Christian Science. We read The Hearld of Christian Science [German edition] and gained courage from the testimonies of healing. Then we bought the textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, and began to read the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly. At that time I understood very little of Christian Science, but firmly believed that I could be helped. I asked a practitioner for help, and she received me with great love, and within a short time I was completely healed. Just as darkness vanishes when the light appears, so the error passed into its nothingness before the truth. When, seven years later, fear would have crept in, this was also removed immediately through the help of a kind practitioner.

In the years since, I have often had occasion to thank our Father-Mother God for His help in all sorts of problems. I should also like to mention that in times of great mental distress and struggle I was privileged to feel God's infinite protection through loving help.

We have been privileged to see clearly during the past few years that God preserves His ideas. One June, when everything was flourishing in the garden, one of our neighbors suddenly complained that his plants were dying, especially the cabbages, which had been developing well. The outer leaves dropped off, the hearts became black, and the plants died. One day my mother discovered this trouble in our garden also. My father wanted to remove the plants, but we begged him not to do this. We did our work in Christian Science, and I found on page 507 of Science and Health this helpful passage: "The tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagating power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind which includes all." The results were wonderful. After a little time the plants recovered, new hearts formed, and the proof of the healing power of Truth was brought out. And the abundance at harvest time! Though there was seeming lack all about us, we were able to harvest much produce. Gratitude fills my heart when I think of the solving of this problem.

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