Testimony of Healing September 8, 1973 Issue

In June of 1972, for the first time, I attended the Annual Meeting...

Eleanor Johnson with contributions from Arlene Griller

In June of 1972, for the first time, I attended the Annual Meeting at The Mother Church in Boston. During one of the meetings mention was made of the advantage of having the Christian Science textbook in public libraries. I wanted to get up on my feet and shout "Yes, yes! Keep all the books on Christian Science in all the libraries, and especially Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. That is where and how I discovered for myself the wonderful religion of Christian Science forty years ago."

At that time I was traveling with an aunt, uncle, and cousin. We had an apartment in Long Beach, California, and would take trips for a week or so, then come back to the apartment to rest and plane the next trip. I could go with them on very few trips because most of them required a great deal of walking, and I was unable to walk more than four or five city blocks at one time. The anklebone of my left foot had been injured in an accident while I was a senior in high school, and I had graduated on crutches. After a number of doctors had re-broken and reset my ankle several times, they finally informed me, "There is nothing more we can do. You will just have to learn to live with the fact that for the rest of your life you can walk on that foot but a short distance at a time." For someone who had been active in tennis, golf, bowling, and other sports, the future was bleak indeed.

In my home state, Iowa, I had not heard of Mary Baker Eddy. I did not know that Christian Science was a religion. At Long Beach, when my relatives were away on trips, I would get books from the nearby library. I kept seeing a book called The Life of Mary Baker Eddy by Sibyl Wilbur. This book always seemed to be in front of me when I was browsing. Finally, curious, I took it home. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy was continuously mentioned in this book, so I went back to the library and asked for a copy. When I had read only a few pages of the first chapter, it seemed the whole world melted away, and answers to my questions about God and about myself that had been dormant in my thought, without hope of answers, were being revealed. I could not put the book down, and I read far into the night.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

It is with deep and sincere gratitude that I wish to offer the...