Freely and abundantly I have received blessing...

Nellie V. Whittier

Freely and abundantly I have received blessing upon blessing through Christian Science, and from the fulness of my heart I would give to others, through this testimony, something of the joy and encouragement which was given to me through a faithful Christian Scientist. I was sinking into chronic invalidism from a complication of physical ills of long standing, culminating in a dangerous case of appendicitis, and had just come out of a hospital, where I had been taken to be operated on for this trouble. I was pronounced too weak to undergo an operation, but in three weeks I was able to leave the hospital, though in a miserable condition and with no hope of recovery under materia medica. For years I had spent a great deal of money for doctors and medicines without finding permanent relief. I had just reached that point of despair and hopelessness when one gives up, and turns from the hope of life to death as a relief from suffering, although I had always prayed as best I knew how.

It was at this point that Christian Science came to me. When the Scientist came into the room where my big chair had been placed in a sunny window, she was a stranger to me. As she was staying in the same house, she had heard of me through the other guests. I will never forget her firm, clear tones as she came up to me and introduced herself, with a smile full of sweetness and good cheer, saying: "I hear you are the new guest, and that you have been in the sanitarium. My dear, there is no need of your being in this condition. It is not God's will. Man is a child of God, free from all man-made laws as to disease. If you are willing you can get well. Will you come up-stairs? I will lend you a copy of 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures' by Mrs. Eddy. Read and study the book, and later if you wish I will help you." I had broken down under her loving tones, and only half understood, but I felt as if a great window had been opened and flood-tides of light, of joy, and of hope were lifting my heart out of its gloom. I promised to go to her room if I could get up the stairs, and I did so the next day with a great effort, for every step was one of pain; but there in her room I first heard of Christian Science, and had it explained somewhat. Then I went down-stairs to a room where I knew I would be alone and undisturbed for hours.

To say I read the book would be too mild a way to express it; I simply devoured it. Hour after hour I sat there, and could hardly read fast enough to satisfy the inward thirst I felt for every drop of that spiritual "cup of cold water." All my life I had been waiting for this. I had read and thought deeply along religious lines, and had longed to find a religion founded wholly upon the Bible. As I read and studied I thanked God. I did not understand it all by any means, but under the advice of my new-found friend I put into immediate practice what I did understand. This lady was not at that time a regular practitioner, only an earnest student, but she worked to the best of her understanding, and in three weeks I came out of that dreadful condition healed, and I have remained so. That was in September, 1898, and from that time to this the Bible and Science and Health, with the Journal and Sentinel, have been my daily reading and study. I have not taken a drop of medicine, while for years before that I was taking something continually. I have not only helped myself, but others, through the understanding of man's true being.

Of one demonstration in particular I would speak. For years I had suffered with an eruption on my face, which at last became very serious. I had tried many things to no avail, and one night as I looked at myself in the glass I realized that man was made in the image and likeness of God, and that I should depend entirely on Him to heal and produce perfectness. I therefore disposed of all material remedies and treated myself as well as I knew how, with the result that within one week my face was perfectly clear, and has remained so ever since.

Thankful as I am for all physical healing, I am a thousand times more so for the spiritual uplift. Christian Science clears and purifies mentality, and is it any wonder that all Christian Scientists revere and love Mrs. Eddy, whose pure mind and elevated thought caught the vision of the Christ, and gave to suffering humanity the text-book of Christian Science, which helps us to understand the teachings of the Master and to walk in his footsteps.

My father took up Christian Science four years ago. He is in his eighty-seventh year, and reads the Bible with Science and Health, the Journal, and Sentinel, morning, noon, and night. He often says how thankful and happy he is to know that the light of Truth is with him in the ascending path of life, and to understand the pure, undefiled religion of the Christ through the clear teaching of our beloved Leader.

I hope my testimony will help some one who is struggling in the shadows of the valley, to realize that the healing power of the Christ is ever present, and that an error once destroyed in consciousness never returns. I feel that this is "the glorious liberty of the children of God." I wish I could tell what happiness and comfort the Christian Science literature brings into our cozy home, to my father and myself, but words fail me to tell of our blessings in Christian Science. God's blessing is over it all.—Nellie V. Whittier, San Jose, Cal.

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Testimony of Healing

I feel that it is both a duty and a pleasure to tell others...

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