Testimony of Healing August 14, 1976 Issue

When our son was just learning to walk, he opened a kitchen...

Dolly J. Stefanson

When our son was just learning to walk, he opened a kitchen cupboard and found a bottle of ant poison—the kind with a hole in the lid. He drank its contents before I could get to him. I was a new student of Christian Science, and though I was terrified for his life, I decided to call a Christian Science practitioner to pray for us. She directed my thought to the ninety-first Psalm. I read it over and over until my thought was calm. The child never had a single adverse effect from that experience, proving to me what the Bible promises in Christ Jesus' words to those who trust God (Mark 16:18): "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them."

After this, I did some deep thinking about the use of insecticides. I came to the conclusion that killing of any kind was not in accordance with my understanding of the teachings of the Way-shower, Christ Jesus. I had read Mrs. Eddy's thought-provoking words in Science and Health (p. 514), "All of God's creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible." If this is true, I reasoned, why would I try to kill anything?

Later, I talked with the practitioner about this and was told that, if I had time to work out problems of infestation in my house and garden through Christian Science, it would certainly aid my progress in the understanding of this Science. If not, I needn't condemn myself for resorting to the use of insecticides while giving my time to solving more pressing problems confronting me.

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