Testimony of Healing March 4, 1985 Issue

I was eight years old when Christian Science was introduced...

WINIFRED WHITTAKER

I was eight years old when Christian Science was introduced to my mother. I did not understand much of what I read in the textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. But when we began attending the services of a small local group of Christian Scientists, I felt the spiritual love they expressed. My parents took only a passing interest in this Science, but they were content for me to attend a Christian Science Sunday School. Still, when physical problems arose I had to submit to medical treatment.

When I was in my early teens the school doctor informed my mother that I was suffering from anemia. I was put on a very unpalatable diet and given medication, but my health did not improve. After several months I implored my parents to let me discontinue the medical treatment and ask my Sunday School teacher to pray for me. They agreed with some reluctance. I ran smiling to my teacher's home. Together we read passages from the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, and I was asked to memorize these passages and use them in my prayers.

These are some of the passages we considered. From the Bible (Ps. 36:7, 9): "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.... For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light." And from Science and Health (p. 242): "There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no other reality—to have no other consciousness of life—than good, God and His reflection, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure of the senses." Also (ibid., p. 371), "Truth is an alterative in the entire system, and can make it 'every whit whole.'"