For years I have enjoyed and...

Richard L. Gerson

For years I have enjoyed and profited by the testimonies in the Christian Science periodicals, and I wish to add mine to the list as a partial payment for untold benefits received in the study of our beautiful religion.

When I was in my early teens, I attended a Christian Science Sunday School at the behest of my mother, who was for thirty years an ardent student. Yet, after a scant few years, I left the Sunday School and the study of Science, perhaps with the thought in mind that I was too grown-up to continue. I had to find out differently the long and hard way. For almost twenty-five years I forsook, not alone the truth of divine Science, but all belief in an almighty God. It is written in Jeremiah (17:13), "O Lord.... all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, ... because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters."

And yet, it is further written in Joel (2:25), "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten." Such has been my glorious experience since my return to the Science of Christianity. The long journey home was indeed a tedious one, but it has been worth many times over every heavy footstep that I had to take.

Numerous physical healings have blessed me since my return to Christian Science. The healings were not always immediate, but much spiritual growth resulted from the prayerful work that was done. Sciatica, an acute rectal ailment, insomnia, hay fever, and other ailments were healed. Oddly enough, I did little specific work on the sciatic condition or rectal pains, but they disappeared completely years ago. The so-called greater ailments gave way more readily than the lesser ones.

There was much hard, although inspiring, work to be done for headaches and colds. In the end it was clear thinking that literally cleared my head. Mrs. Eddy's statement (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 210), "Good thoughts are an impervious armor," was one of the truths that I held to during this period. The results, although gradual, were beneficial and lasting.

The drinking habit, bad temper, and profanity were overcome when I argued that they were no part of spiritual man, forever happy and harmonious without artificial stimulus. This thought also helped to break the habit of heavy coffee drinking, a habit of many years' standing. "Never forget that you are a Christian Scientist." This simple advice of a practitioner likewise helped greatly at this time. Indeed, that statement helps me at all times.

It is impossible to say in words what I feel deep within me about Christian Science. It fills my life because it teaches the way of Life itself; it has resolved my search for the truth because it is the revelation of Truth. I cannot know any greater love because "the vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love" (Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, p. 113). My gratitude is heartfelt to God, to our dear Master, Christ Jesus, and to our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy. Membership in The Mother Church, much growth-producing activity in a branch church, and the joyous experience of class instruction, together with the incomparable privilege of having our children attend a Christian Science Sunday School, cause me to say with the Psalmist (Ps. 23:5), "Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."—Richard L. Gerson, San Francisco, California.

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