Testimony of Healing October 17, 1988 Issue

On a cold February day in 1936, during the great Depression,...

Anna Jane Watkins

On a cold February day in 1936, during the great Depression, I sat alone pondering how to find a way out of my own depression. My health seemed to be gone, and with it the ability to earn my living. Not wanting to be a burden on my family, I had a very strong urge to turn on the gas to "solve" my problems that way. But my early religious training had taught me that suicide doesn't solve anything. Problems have to be faced and overcome.

In my distraught state of mind I ran to the door, opened it, and asked a woman passing by if she would come in and talk to me, as I was alone and ill. The woman came in and I told her of my predicament. She talked to me of a teaching I had never heard of: Christian Science. She had a copy of the Sentinel in her hand, which she gave to me. After talking to me a while longer, she left. The woman lived nearby, but I had not met her before.

Shortly afterward my relatives came home, and I spoke of the incident but didn't mention my urge to commit suicide. My aunt told me of a book stored in the basement. The book was Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, and it had helped my aunt when the doctor said he could not help. However, when the crisis passed, she had gone back to the doctors again.

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