Testimony of Healing June 22, 1940 Issue

Christian Science was brought to me over twenty-three...

Emma Canterbury Wilson

Christian Science was brought to me over twenty-three years ago, when plans were being made to operate upon me for the removal of a goiter. Though I had been under constant electrical and osteopathic treatment, the condition had grown steadily worse. I had become nervous and ill, and breathing was difficult. At this time a relative suggested that I might find help in Christian Science. A practitioner was asked to take the case, and within the next five or six weeks every trace of the growth vanished. I was in better health than I had been for years. Nervousness, heart trouble, and recurring attacks of tonsillitis had also all been overcome. This was my first demonstration of the wonderful healing power of divine Love. Since then many beautiful healings and experiences have come to our entire family.

Through my own understanding of Truth, I was able to prove the unreality of a physical condition which presented itself some time ago. During some construction work in the home I stumbled, and fell onto some old boards which were full of rusty nails. One of these was forced deep into the flesh at the base of my right thumb. It occurred at a time of confusion and fatigue, and my first thought was one of resentment that the boards had been left in the way. Realizing that my thinking needed immediate correction, I endeavored quickly to clear my consciousness in order to open the way for healing; for, as Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 346), "Material beliefs must be expelled to make room for spiritual understanding."

For two days I kept the thumb covered and out of water as much as possible; otherwise it did not bother me. I had entirely overcome the feeling of resentment, but in doing so had only taken one step toward a complete treatment. Soon the hand began to pain me greatly and became badly festered. The pain was almost constant, and at times extended to the shoulder. I recalled then that with the very first sight of the rusty nail, as it was withdrawn from my hand, had come, undenied, the thought of infection. The first step in healing, we are taught, is to allay fear; I had not taken this step, nor had I protected myself by being obedient to a further instruction, that of meeting and overcoming every material claim with the truth. So I had to retrace my steps and begin at the beginning to prove the truth, knowing that "mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries the infection" (ibid., p. 153). At one time, when the congestion and pain were especially bad and the drainage from the sore had stopped, I worked to realize the truth of our Leader's statement, "A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive" (ibid., p. 463). Suddenly the wound opened and drained, and at the same time the pain in the whole arm was relieved.

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