Testimony of Healing August 13, 1949 Issue

Shortly after I began to read...

Olen D. Casteel

Shortly after I began to read Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, I received several healings. I then remembered that there was a Church of Christ, Scientist, in our neighborhood, and the thought occurred to me that there I would find others, like myself, who were endeavoring to work out the great problem of being by applying the rules of the Science of Christianity and also were helping to bring the healing message of Truth to all mankind, I figured that I already belonged right there with them and resolved to apply for membership at once. In a few months I was accepted into the local branch church and then into The Mother Church. Church membership has been helpful in correcting faults and overcoming error. I have learned more of how to work democratically with fellow members, and it has been my happy privilege to serve on committees in a branch church.

A few years ago while I was lifting a bale of hay from the hay-wagon to the feed rack for dairy cows, a board underfoot gave way. I fell, striking my side against the vertical slats of the feed rack while still holding the bale with hay hooks. There was a snap which felt as though there might be a broken or fractured rib, and I also felt what seemed like a severe internal injury. I never had a physical examination to find out more about it. Working for myself in Christian Science, as best I knew how, I was sustained, much fear was destroyed, and I was able to continue my duties; but I received no complete healing. This caused me to study more earnestly to understand my way out of the difficulty. After two weeks of effort the condition remained the same, so I decided to ask help of a Christian Science practitioner, who took up work for me immediately.

Soon it became apparent to me that my body consisted of thought only. Hence there was no material body for the practitioner to heal. The injury, or injured body, existed only in my material belief about body. The practitioner worked to replace a false belief in my human consciousness with the true spiritual idea of identity in divine Science; and when he saw clearly that God, divine Mind, knew nothing whatever about an injury to His idea, the false belief of injury was destroyed. The result was an instantaneous physical healing. One moment the swelling and soreness were there; the next moment they were gone, and I was completely free. This took place on my way home from work one evening. Apropos of this, Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (Pref., p. xi), "The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation."

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