Immediate relief! That is what I experienced after twelve years...

Immediate relief! That is what I experienced after twelve years of suffering from a painful, unsightly skin condition on my face. I attended a Wednesday evening testimony meeting in a Church of Christ, Scientist. Inspired by what I heard, I decided to turn to Christian Science for healing. Numerous medical remedies had failed. As I took this stand for Truth and spiritual healing, the condition was alleviated at once, and complete healing came within forty-eight hours. That was twenty-four years ago.

Convinced of the power of God to meet our every need, I did not panic when, several years later, I was suddenly stricken with what is termed rheumatoid arthritis. Walking was painful and difficult. Both hands were affected, and the simplest household chore became a major challenge. A doctor friend of someone I knew said to me, "You know what you have, and you know that medicine can do nothing for you except to try to relieve the pain. If your faith can do anything for you, stick to it." I did; the complete healing took several months of consecrated prayer in Christian Science, but it came and has been permanent.

I studied the definition of "oil" in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 592): "Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration." References to "body" helped me to realize that instead of having a physical body which could be crippled and pained, my real identity was spiritual, and I was the embodiment of right ideas—a reflection of God. I had to learn that my responsibility was to respond to God, who provides all good to His idea, man. I found constant encouragement in the words of Christ Jesus (John 5:30), "I can of mine own self do nothing." I had to depend upon God for strength and help moment by moment. A passage from Miscellaneous Writings by Mrs. Eddy was a great inspiration. It shows the transforming power of Christian healing that restored mobility to me. It reads (p. 354): "A little more grace, a motive made pure, a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the movement of body and soul in accord with God."

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June 27, 1977
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