Testimony of Healing May 20, 1985 Issue

In 1983 I had an opportunity to go to Africa to teach school

TIMOTHY GASSER

In 1983 I had an opportunity to go to Africa to teach school. When I arrived I found that many of my colleagues and parents of students expressed a great deal of fear concerning diseases common in West Africa. There was much discussion on this subject, and I was not alert to protect myself through prayer. However, as a lifelong Christian Scientist I had always relied on God for healing. Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 369): "The prophylactic and therapeutic (that is, the preventive and curative) arts belong emphatically to Christian Science, as would be readily seen, if psychology, or the Science of Spirit, God, was understood." I soon had an opportunity to prove the truth of this statement.

About three months after my arrival I began to feel ill. For several days I felt very weak. My physical condition compounded other problems I was having at the time. The school in which I taught was going through a crisis regarding its financial viability. The turbulent situation brought about a state of depression in which I began to question my decision to accept the position in Africa. What had seemed to be a good opportunity was turning into a trying experience.

I was feeling isolated as a Christian Scientist, for I knew of no other Scientists in the city. I needed to learn that we are never isolated from the healing Christ. I also needed to overcome the "unnatural reluctance" to call for help from an experienced Christian Scientist. Mrs. Eddy states on page 420 of Science and Health: "If students do not readily heal themselves, they should early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid them. If they are unwilling to do this for themselves, they need only to know that error cannot produce this unnatural reluctance."

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