Until Christian Science came into our home my mother...

Madge Wilcox Hengerer with contributions from Julius Hengerer, Carrie B. Wilcox

Until Christian Science came into our home my mother was a semi-invalid and a great sufferer from asthma. From early childhood she had been thus afflicted. All her life she had been under the care of some practitioner of the medical profession, and had found very little relief. When she said she had found a book that could heal anyone of sickness, I thought it was quite a joke. When, however, her healing took place and she was able to do normal things, we children thought a great miracle had been performed.

A year or so after my mother's healing I cut my finger deeply on a piece of tin. My father wished to call in a physician, for the wound obviously needed several stitches; my mother wished to call a practitioner. It was for me to decide. On the following Monday there were to be examinations at the art school I attended, and I wished to use my hand for these. I felt that if a doctor did the work it might be weeks before the finger would be healed, and that if it was God who healed in Christian Science, there was no reason why it should not be done at once. So I agreed to have Christian Science treatment. The finger was healed in two treatments. The swelling and inflammation were completely eliminated, and I used the finger the next day.

Shortly after this healing, and while I was still at the art school, sores suddenly appeared all over my face. I immediately wrote to the practitioner through whose work my finger had been healed, and as soon as she received my letter the sores disappeared, as one might erase something from a slate. Although I had no inclination to become a Christian Scientist, or to study Science at this time, I thought that, no matter what might happen to me, Christian Science could heal me.

A few years later, after my marriage, my husband and I found ourselves associated with a group of Christian Scientists. We were impressed with their happiness, their success in business, their excellent health, and their good, clean lives. We decided to get the books and find out more about Christian Science for ourselves. We then began reading the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly each day. We also attended church regularly.

My first comprehension of Christian Science was that God knows nothing of sickness, sin, or discord; that He is all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting Mind. I saw that my business was not to believe anything to be real or of God which was not good.

One day my husband came home with a bad case of chills and fever. He had been in bondage to periodical attacks of this malady all his life. That night we repeated over and over "the scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, p. 468), and the hymn beginning:

"Our God is All-in-all,
His children cannot fear."

In the morning he was entirely free from the ailment, and has never had an attack since. A month after this I found myself completely free from a catarrhal condition which I had had from my earliest recollection. When this healing took place, and it came about simply through reading the Lessons, I suddenly found myself breathing deeply and in a way I had never before done. When I realized that I was healed, a voice seemed to say to me, You are not being as critical of everybody, nor as sarcastic. I realized then that it is sometimes mental remissness, resulting in physical effects, which has to be healed.

Conditions preceding the birth of our son were so harmonious that when the news of his arrival was heard nobody believed it could be true. A neighbor remarked, "I don't know anything about Christian Science, but for childbirth it is the most remarkable thing in the world."

I am glad I accepted Christian Science, the greatest gift to this age. I am grateful for The Mother Church and its branches; for the consecrated work at headquarters and all over the world. I have had many joyous opportunities to serve the Cause of Christian Science. My desire is to be always obedient to God's commands.—(Mrs.) Madge Wilcox Hengerer, Wilton, Connecticut.

I wish to corroborate the statements made by my wife in her testimony, and to say that I concur wholeheartedly in them.—Julius Hengerer.

I am very glad to verify the healings given in my daughter's testimony. Christian Science has been my only physician for thirty years. I am exceedingly grateful for the many healings and blessings I have received, and am receiving daily, through its application.

(Mrs.) Carrie B. Wilcox, Batavia, New York.

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