Testimony of Healing September 4, 1976 Issue

Christian Science came into my life after ten years of self-defeating...

Charlotte Woodhull

Christian Science came into my life after ten years of self-defeating physical and emotional illness had left me discouraged. I was prayerfully looking for a solution. I sincerely wanted to be freed from epilepsy; it began after a nearly fatal accident and when I was in a very morbid state of thought. Although I didn't really understand what I was reading, I continued to visit a Christian Science Reading Room, where I read Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and other Christian Science literature. It was all so lovely, and I was beginning to feel happy. The librarians in the Reading Room always had a warm welcome for me, and I felt cared for.

Early in my studies I was directed to a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, whose membership embraced me in the same warm sense of caring that gave me confidence. Desiring to serve, but unable at the time to be a church member (because I was still under a doctor's care), I planned for myself a program of simple activity that included being a good Christian wherever I was, helping people when asked to, and attending the branch church services regularly. As I did so, and as I continued studying Christian Science literature, I learned not to be fearful of a human history that falsely identified me as a sick mortal who needed pills and medical supervision to be able to function normally.

Even though I wasn't a church member, the spiritual idea, Church, "the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" (Science and Health, p. 583), was so expanding in my thought that I stopped thinking about mortal mind's diagnosis of illness. Epilepsy, or any disease, is a fearful belief, or conviction, but it cannot overwhelm us if we take our stand for the truth of spiritual being.

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