I have been bountifully blessed by Mary Baker Eddy's...

Josephine Guentner Bower

I have been bountifully blessed by Mary Baker Eddy's discovery of Christian Science, and by her tireless effort in founding this great movement, which has encircled the world, bringing to mankind's attention a positive deliverance from all its distresses. To delay further a written testimony would indeed be ingratitude.

Both my parents were students of Christian Science for a number of years before I was born, and my first blessing came at the time of my birth, when my mother was instantly healed of any ill effects of a dose of bichloride of mercury, which had been accidentally given her by a nurse. She knew and believed Jesus' words, "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them." Thus through my life I have had the privilege and countless blessing of a mother's love.

When I was a very small child, my face and neck were severely scalded with a thick boiling liquid which I pulled off the stove, spilling it on myself. The rules of Christian Science were applied and a healing followed, leaving none of the ugly scars which usually result from such a deep burn. Through my childhood I was healed of numerous children's diseases, and protected in accidents.

There came a time in my existence, however, when I believed that Christian Science was depriving me of complete self-expression and the pleasures human experience had to offer, and I decided to go my own way. But after a period of vain searching, finding not happiness but a greater discontent, I became willing to admit that God's way was better than my way, and to try to live and think as I had been taught both by my parents and in the Christian Science Sunday School. At that time I was faced with the fact that it was finanacially impossible for me to continue my education. With the knowledge that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, p. 494), and the metaphysical help of a member of the family, the problem was met and mastered. Within a few weeks I was offered, without even applying for it. a scholarship in a school having the course I wished to follow. This I accepted, and the school being located near Boston I was permitted the privilege of attending The Mother Church services. The following school years were filled with many proofs of God's care and protecting power.

During that period of vain searching, however, I had developed the smoking habit. This did not seem so easily mastered. Many times I truly tried to be rid of the unpleasant habit, but without success. It was not until the close of my collegiate experience that the condition was finally healed. It came about as the direct result of a desire to serve as an associate in the Sanatorium of The Christian Science Benevolent Association at Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. I sent for an application blank, wherein I found the question, "Do you use tobacco?" I realized then and there that the healing must take place. Help was requested from a practitioner, and within a very short period the habit disappeared. On page 448 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy states, "Evil which obtains in the bodily senses, but which the heart condemns, has no foundation; but if evil is uncondemned, it is undenied and nurtured." Since I Chose to be rid of it. the error had been condemned in my heart. Being left without foundation. it was quickly healed and could never return. Just a few days after graduation I was accepted as an associate in the Chestnut Hill Sanatorium.

For the blessings that came to me, and the growth that I experienced from serving in the Sanatorium, I shall never cease being grateful. When the time came that I chose to leave that institution, I was told by many that business conditions were extremely poor and it was almost impossible to find employment. But through reliance on the guidance Principle, and the taking of no more than normal footsteps, I found employment in most harmonious surroundings.

Mrs. Eddy has written (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 126), "No reproof is so potent as the silent lesson of a good example." I am deeply for the good example given us by The Christian Science Board of Directors, the lecturers, and the sincere working Christian Scientists whom we find in The Mother Church and in its branches. Nor can I refrain from expressing gratitude for the constant flow of good which comes to us through our periodicals, including The Christian Science Monitor.

(Mrs.) Josephine Guentner Bower, Dallas, Texas.

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