When I first came to Christian Science, the physical healings...

Beatrice Slote

When I first came to Christian Science, the physical healings seemed very wonderful indeed; today, after nearly ten years of practical application of the truth, they appear to be natural results of the action of divine Principle, and all good seems possible. Of the healings which I have had, the demonstration over a burn in February, 1913, especially impressed me, because it showed the infinite possibilities attending a greater understanding of the power of Mind over all physical conditions.

About noon one day I went into the kitchen to light the oven of the gas-stove. It seems that the gas had been lighted some time before, but had gone out. I struck a match, and on opening the oven door, my face being directly in front of it, with a loud explosion a ball of fire struck me squarely like a blow, especially, it seemed, in the eyes. Pieces of the stove flew in all directions, and in the next room pictures fell. There was another lesser explosion, and I jumped to my feet declaring that Truth was all and absolute. I got Science and Health and read it, and felt no sansation at all for some time. Suddenly realizing that in less than an hour and a half I was to serve in the Christian Science reading-room from one to nine o'clock it occurred to me that I ought to have the help of a practitioner.

At that moment, in removing my reliance from Principle to person, fear touched me, and I began to suffer terribly. Sight left me, and my eyes began to close. I felt that my hands, arms, face, and neck were burned. The agony seemed almost unbearable, and I began to feel faint. I tried to call, but could not speak for a few minutes; then the thought came to me that this was the hour in which to prove the power of Truth. I made a great effort, reached the telephone, and called a practitioner. We worked together, and in fifteen minutes I was relieved of suffering. What came to me most clearly then, was the realization that pain is not physical but mental, and as it gradually left me it seemed to be fading out of my thought, not my body. Help came to me from the story of the three Hebrew captives who walked through the fiery furnace unharmed. While I was suffering, I was called to the telephone to talk to a patient. She noticed nothing unusual in me, and I was able to give her a little help.

I went at the appointed hour to fill my engagement, perfectly free from pain. During that afternoon and evening, though I talked with many people who knew me, no one noticed that my eyebrows and eyelashes were gone and that my hair had been burned. I had a great sense of freedom and happiness, of thanksgiving even, for the experience showed me the naturalness of the spiritual healing, and that one can retain peace of mind and health in spite of accident, also in spite of false belief and opposition. My eyebrows and eyelashes grew in a remarkably short time, and no mark remained on my face to tell of the accident.

The condition of my eyes and my general health is excellent. During the last year, through an understanding of the spiritual meaning of health, I have had practically nothing to meet physically. To say that I am grateful for Christian Science is expressing in but small measure what I feel for its continuous blessings.—Beatrice Slote, Chicago, Ill.

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