How joyfully the grateful song...
How joyfully the grateful song of the Psalmist has echoed down through the centuries, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."
Each day my gratitude increases for Christian Science and what it is doing for all mankind. Some years ago, when it seemed that I had reached the end of human endurance, I found this Science. False theology offered me no hope and I had lost all faith in materia medica and the training I had in it. After a period of intense suffering and anguish I turned humbly and completely to God.
How I rejoiced when it dawned upon my searching thought that God does not send sickness as a punishment or as a means of drawing His children nearer Him; that sickness is no part of His good and perfect gifts. There has been no turning back, though at times I had to come down from the mountaintop and pass through the desert of human beliefs. Yet even in the desert divine Love has always provided an oasis where I might rest beside the still waters and feed upon the green pastures of Truth.
It seemed that I had to prove my willingness to go where God wanted me to go, for immediately upon my finding Christian Science it was necessary for me to live in the country, far from any church and other Scientists. But in Truth we find there are no desert places. Animosity was dissolved as many healings took place in the home and neighborhood, and intolerance and resentment were replaced with friendliness and good will, and in many instances the study of Christian Science was taken up. We heard of other Scientists and began to hold services. Lack of transportation was overcome along with many other obstructions. We drove to the services, seventeen miles distant, through winter weather and over bad roads and were always in our right place each Sunday. Many times came the comforting thought, "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground." There has been much of the "old man" to put off, as well as many lessons to learn. Through what seemed to be a bitter experience I had to see that in working out my salvation I must follow Principle, not person.
I am grateful to Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, and to our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, for the blessed Christ, Truth. My appreciation grows daily for Mrs. Eddy's wonderful provision of the Manual of The Mother Church and the activities of the Christian Science movement. It is a joyous privilege and opportunity to be a charter member of a Christian Science Society and a member of The Mother Church, and to have had class instruction from a consecrated teacher of Christian Science. This instruction is indeed one of "the wells of salvation," with its inspiring and refreshing association meetings.
A few of the many healings I have had include a healing of low blood pressure and a demonstration of the power of divine Principle to heal when doctors had declared an operation necessary. I was freed from pneumonia, laryngitis, and colds. I was healed of tuberculosis of both lungs, including pleurisy and hemorrhages, a healing which was acknowledged by medical science. Before learning of Christian Science I had spent a period in a sanatorium where the benefits of living in a higher altitude were stressed. But in Science I found it is the higher altitude of spiritual understanding which is needed. In this sanatorium a group of nurses and I sought most earnestly for an answer to the problem of being. We were discouraged at the slow healing, if any, that medical science offered, and decided the answer was not to be found in any religion of which we knew, or in any philosophy we had studied. The healing of tuberculosis was protracted, for there was much false thinking to eradicate. When I began to realize and to acknowledge that in the whole history of man there never had been a claim of tuberculosis, but only God's divine claim of perfection, harmony, and wholeness, and as I accepted the spiritual fact that God's beloved idea is now and always has been perfect and indestructible, I was freed.
I am indeed grateful for the loving help of practitioners when the way seemed difficult and dark. I am grateful to God for the joy and peace that have replaced fear and anxiety, and for the higher sense of love, humility, and courage which has been gained. A false sense of human relationship has been healed, and several members of my family have become members of The Mother Church. I am especially appreciative of recent unfoldment in regard to home, activity, and a higher vision of Church. I have had many instances of God's protecting care and tender guidance, especially in driving alone over mountains, at night and through storms. My prayerful and humble desire is that I may prove my joy and gratitude by living this truth.—(Mrs.) Arlene Shull Mahone, Arlington, Virginia.
