Testimony of Healing January 24, 1983 Issue

Christian Science found me a very self-satisfied person

VEGARD VEVSTAD

Christian Science found me a very self-satisfied person. I felt that I could (and I actually did) do just about whatever I wanted to, and that I possessed what I considered to be a rather attractive personality. Ambitions—beyond my own comfort—I had none. True, I did think that there had to be an original—yes, even a good— cause of some sort. But I believed that this originator had very little, if any, bearing on my present endeavors.

Enter Christian Science in the form of its textbooks, the Bible, and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. A student of this Science gave me a copy of each. At the time, I regarded religious study as, at best, an escape from dealing with problems. All the same, I agreed to read Science and Health because it seemed to offer an interesting and, maybe, even useful perspective.

When I did, its contents touched me deeply, and I immediately regretted certain past wrongdoings. But I also felt a sense of freedom and joy that I'd only dreamed of. In fact, I barely believed that such freedom and joy existed. It was as if a new world were appearing to me, much in the manner and with the feeling described in this passage from Science and Health (p. ix): "A child drinks in the outward world through the eyes and rejoices in the draught. He is as sure of the world's existence as he is of his own; yet he cannot describe the world." In working to establish and extend this new view, I have experienced what the rest of that paragraph pictures: "He finds a few words, and with these he stammeringly attempts to convey his feeling. Later, the tongue voices the more definite thought, though still imperfectly."

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