I have been a student of Christian Science...

John W. Sorrelle

I have been a student of Christian Science for many years and have experienced many healings through its study and through the help of practitioners. It is a joy to testify to the healing power of this great truth, given to the world by our precious Leader, Mary Baker Eddy.

My first contact with this Science came on an occasion when I was to sing a concert program. Overnight I had contracted so severe a cold that I could hardly speak above a whisper. A man who was concerned with the evening's program called on me and upon seeing my condition unhesitatingly recommended that I at once call a Christian Science practitioner. He stated that through Christian Science I could be healed soon enough to perform that evening.

In explaining something of Christian Science to me, my friend mentioned that he had been healed of the effects of inflammatory rheumatism so severe that one leg had been two inches shorter than the other. I was much impressed with his story, and feeling in rather a desperate situation, I agreed to talk with a Christian Science practitioner. He called one for me and explained my condition to her. She asked to talk with me, and I shall never forget the loving assurance she expressed that I should be free for the evening's performance. This proved to be the case. In the midst of the program I realized I had never been in better voice. After this convincing proof of spiritual healing I began an earnest study of Christian Science.

A year or so ago I was again afflicted with a cold which made me fearful that I would be unable to fill my position as First Reader in our branch church. With the help of a practitioner, I performed my duty with ease and freedom.

On one occasion I suffered from food poisoning. About midnight I was seized with severe pains which grew steadily worse, and it became necessary to call a practitioner. I recalled "the scientific statement of being," given on page 468 of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. The first sentence reads, "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter." I stopped on the word "intelligence."

I knew there was no intelligence in the food and no intelligence in my stomach. Neither could utter a complaint nor be conscious of the other. Moreover, I know that mortal mind is always a liar. I declared that divine Mind is supreme over all and is present and operative right where mortal mind claims to be. This thinking stemmed from Mrs. Eddy's statement (ibid., pp. 385, 386): "Any supposed information, coming from the body or from inert matter as if either were intelligent, is an illusion of mortal mind,—one of its dreams. Realize that the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted in the case of sickness, any more than it is in the case of sin." After pondering this truth I went to sleep, and in the morning I awoke healed.

A severe attack of hay fever made it difficult to breathe when I lay in bed. Twice there was relief for a day or two while a practitioner was helping me, but the condition reappeared with increased discomfort. The practitioner gave me this statement to study (Miscellaneous Writings by Mrs. Eddy, p. 186): "The supposition that Soul, or Mind, is breathed into matter, is a pantheistic doctrine that presents a false sense of existence, and the quickening spirit takes it away: revealing, in place thereof, the power and perfection of a released sense of Life in God and Life as God." The healing came quickly, and I have been free from hay fever ever since.

I am grateful for membership in The Mother Church, for class instruction, and for many years of activity in branch churches.—John W. Sorrelle, Orlando, Florida.

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Testimony of Healing

Christian Science means everything...

May 5, 1956

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