I wish to express my profound...

Kermit Hoffman

I wish to express my profound gratitude to God for Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, and for our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. Through her divinely inspired and understandable interpretation of the Bible, as presented to us through her textbook, Science and Health, and her other writings, Mrs. Eddy has given us the truths of God and man.

From youth to about the age of eighteen I regularly attended orthodox church services, but for the next twenty-five years I rarely attended any church service. As I now know, I was at that time laboring under the blind belief that life and intelligence are in matter, and I could not attain any sense of satisfaction or understanding.

Then I was suddenly stricken with symptoms of a dreaded so-called incurable disease. The local physician sent me to a specialist for observation, and I was placed in one of our large eastern city hospitals under the care of expert specialists. After one week of observation, testing, and X-raying, it was decided I should undergo a surgical operation which was considered very serious, and the possibility of my surviving was doubtful. The operation was performed, and after a period of twenty days I was released from the hospital with the understanding that I would remain in the city until given permission to take the one-hundred-mile trip to my home.

At this time, and in the only way I knew, I began seeking God's help. I was staying with friends who were Christian Scientists, and one day while sitting alone in their living room I noticed a small black book lying on the table. I picked it up and opened it at random. My eyes were attracted by three lines of verse in fine print from the poet Tennyson, which read (p. 194):

An infant crying in the night,

An infant crying for the light,

And with no language but a cry.

I sat pondering this until I realized how true this was of my present condition. I then noticed the title on the outside cover of the book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." However, I did not think of this Science in relation to my physical condition at the time. Then my physicians told me that I could make the trip home with the understanding that I would return for treatment once a month for an indefinite period of time. I made these trips, but after each I felt an increasing sense of fear, anxiety, and worry, as I was getting worse instead of better. After a year and a half of treatment the physicians only shook their heads in discouragement.

At this time the friends with whom I had stayed visited me at my home and in the course of our conversation called my attention to Christian Science. They talked to me concerning God and my relationship to Him. I was now ready for Christian Science, and I wanted to understand more of God and His creation. My friends offered to make an appointment for me to see a Christian Science practitioner, and although my physician directed me to report back to the hospital for a thirty-one-day therapy treatment, I did not return to the hospital, but kept my appointment with the practitioner. From then on I began to study Christian Science. At first I was amazed and then almost overwhelmed with joy as the unfoldment of Truth became apparent. In a very short time I was completely healed and free, and I have come to know God as the only power.

In Psalms (107:20) we read, "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." This truly has been the case in my experience. Since then I have had many other healings and blessings for which I am continually grateful. Among them have been healings of bad temper and resentment, use of alcohol, discordant home conditions; and I have gained a greater sense of brotherly love.

I am indeed grateful for membership in The Mother Church and in a branch church. I am grateful for Christian Science and for the progress and accomplishment of the Cause.—Kermit Hoffman, New Ringgold, Pennsylvania.

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