"Many years ago the author made a spiritual discovery,...

Jeunesse Butler

"Many years ago the author made a spiritual discovery, the scientific evidence of which has accumulated to prove that the divine Mind produces in man health, harmony, and immortality." So states our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, on page 380 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." It is with a desire to acknowledge and express gratitude for such "scientific evidence" in my own experience that I offer this testimony.

My introduction to Christian Science came when, as a very young girl. I was traveling with my mother, who was searching for health and peace in locality. A gentleman on the train overheard me express a desire for a magazine to read and offered me a copy of The Christian Science Journal, which I accepted. Upon returning to our home we learned that some people called Christian Scientists had come to make their home in Medford. A few years later, while attending private school and studying music in a large city, I began attending the services at the Christian Science church and on my return to my home began attending the Christian Science Sunday School of the society which had just been formed.

My first demonstration was the removal from my eye of a cinder which was causing considerable discomfort. As a child and young girl I was supposed to be constitutionally delicate, with a timid, retiring nature, and one in which sensitiveness, a strong imagination, moodiness, and other false beliefs associated with a so-called artistic temperament seemed so prominent that they constantly interfered with a normal life. I knew little of strength, freedom, or happiness until healing came through the tender, invigorating ministrations of Christian Science. As a professional musician, it was considered fortunate that I engaged in work which did not require so much strength as some others, but when I took up newspaper work, which meant walking many hours each day, writing many hours at the close of each day, and being "always on the job," the understanding and application of what I learned from Christian Science about God and man enabled me to fill every requirement. Within a few months I had so gained in health and appearance that friends scarcely recognized me.

Reticence, aloofness, and intellectual snobbishness left my thought, and I discovered a new world full of interesting, likable people. The human experience became enjoyable indeed as my nature and outlook were transformed by Truth. Although living in exactly the same place, as far as locality was concerned, I seemed to have entered into another world.

I have been healed of many minor ailments, also of neuritis, tonsillitis, influenza, sprained ankle, a catarrhal condition, weakness, chronic sick headaches supposed to have been inherited, nervous prostration, stage and microphone fright, and fear of being alone. A test came with the passing on of my mother, whom I loved dearly. Two lines from our revised Hymnal were very helpful:

"He knows the angels that you need,
And sends them to your side."

During this experience Science and Health was scarcely ever out of my hands, and certain statements therein appeared almost to be printed in gold, they were so illumined to my consciousness. Attendance at church services, activities in the Sunday school, and daily employment were uninterrupted. The help which I received at this time was considered remarkable, and the understanding gained was invaluable at another testing time, two years later, at the passing on of my only brother. These tests only caused a closer walk with God, and perhaps only those who have gone through similar experiences can realize the full truth of our Leader's words: "Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us where it found us" (Science and Health, p. 66).

I wish to express gratitude for membership in The Mother Church and in a branch church; for the eight years in which I have taught in a Christian Science Sunday School, and for serving in other organizational activities, especially as advertising representative for The Christian Science Monitor; for all the periodicals and the Reading Rooms; and to all who are contributing to the maintenance of the Christian Science movement through right thinking and acting, based on Principle.

(Miss) Jeunesse Butler, Medford, Oregon.

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