Testimony of Healing September 11, 1971 Issue

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science...

Mary Nell Thomas

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 370): "A physical diagnosis of disease—since mortal mind must be the cause of disease—tends to induce disease." This seemed to be my experience when I had a physical examination in connection with applying for a job. The examining physician told me that if I were to live, I would have to have immediate medical attention. After this diagnosis the symptoms seemed acute, and I began to think that each day would be my last. Then one day the librarian of the Christian Science Reading Room of our branch church called me and asked me to serve in the Reading Room the following Sunday. I told her that I would return her call. While thinking about it I realized that for the first time in weeks I really wanted to do something; I sincerely wanted to live and to serve in the Reading Room that Sunday.

After about an hour of indecision I decided to go to the Reading Room. I told the librarian that I wanted to serve on Sunday. Then I sat down to study. While I was sitting there, the thoughts of illness were so aggressive I didn't seem to comprehend much of what I was reading, but I felt the presence of divine Love in that room. And as I was leaving, the words on the cover of the record I saw on the shelf, "His arm encircles me," stood out as though they were in neon lights. These words are from a hymn by Mrs. Eddy, "The Mother's Evening Prayer." The first two verses follow (Poems, p. 4):

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