I wish to express my gratitude for Christian Science and...

William W. Wardell

I wish to express my gratitude for Christian Science and for what it has done and is doing for me and my family.

Our dear Leader, Mrs. Eddy, wrote in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 210): "Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full." And she adds: "Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited."

One of the many healings I have had in Christian Science, for which I am very grateful, is of bondage to the tobacco habit. I had used tobacco off and on for a great many years, and while I had quit the habit a number of times, I always had a desire for it, and would resume its use, being lulled by the voice of error arguing that it was no worse to use tobacco than to abstain from its us and yet have a desire for it. I not only had had the tobacco habit ever since I was a young man, but had merchandised it and was familiar with all the various brands and degrees of domestic and imported tobacco; and while I had often read what our Leader says about the use of tobacco on pages 407 and 454 of Science and Health, I did not see why the use of tobacco should hinder my progress in Christian Science.

However, the time came when I desired to join one of the branch churches, and when I asked for an application blank, I was told that if I used tobacco it would be useless for me to apply for membership. At first I decided that if that was the case, I should prefer to continue the use of tobacco than join a church; but as I worked over and studied the matter, I decided that it was not the proper thing for a student of Christian Science to use tobacco. I attempted to stop, but found I was unable to do so. In fact, the words quoted above often came to me, and I was shown how necessary it is that one trying to live the life of a Christian Scientist should keep his habits as pure as he desires to keep his thoughts.

Finally, one day in the early part of 1936, I was suffering from an ailment that had bothered me a great deal for a long time, and I went to a practitioner for help. During our conversation, the subject of the tobacco habit came up. I finally left his office with such a sense of happiness and rejoicing for the wonderful truth, as revealed in our textbook, Science and Health, that I have never had a desire for the use of tobacco from that day to this.

I am most grateful to our beloved Leader for this and many other blessings; for our churches, the periodicals, Reading Rooms. and the workers in the Field, who are so ready and willing to help.

I hope that this testimony will help someone to free himself from being a slave to tobacco. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

William W. Wardell, Denver, Colorado.

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Testimony of Healing

In gratitude for a demonstration of God's protection and...

January 7, 1939

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