Testimony of Healing December 4, 1978 Issue

Fifteen years ago I was so completely healed of a crippling...

Cherie B. Shindell

Fifteen years ago I was so completely healed of a crippling disease that even the memory of the condition had been erased. When it was recalled, I gave a testimony at the next Wednesday evening meeting of our branch Church of Christ, Scientist. As I recall, I struggled with symptoms of arthritis for about two years, making very little headway, even though I was reading the Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly and articles from the periodicals in every spare moment. Then a message came to me quite clearly: "Put first things first." I pondered the meaning of this and realized that in sharing the joys of my husband's successful retirement, I had drifted into laxity, not setting aside a specific time for prayer and study.

So I began to rise before daylight for an hour of quiet study. As our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, counsels in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 1), "Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-immolation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christianization and health of mankind." This study and prayer proved to be effective, for, while there was no sudden realization of healing, the demonstration was complete; and for some years now I have led an active, vigorous life.

I am grateful for many other healings, some through my own prayer and others through the help of a Christian Science practitioner. Possibly the most interesting one was when I seemed to have picked up a virus that was making the rounds. It was necessary for me to make a business trip, although I didn't feel able to do so. I started out. After driving several miles, I thought of these words from the Bible (Rom. 6:16): "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey..." I exclaimed aloud that I certainly wasn't going to yield myself to obey this foolishness. With this surge of spiritual conviction not to serve material symptoms came an instantaneous and complete healing, and I went on about my business rejoicing—well. Other healings were of colds, laryngitis, and an acute case of hemorrhoids.

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