It is with deep gratitude that I offer my testimony of...

Ruth Barrett Arno

It is with deep gratitude that I offer my testimony of the healing and protecting power of God as learned in Christian Science.

My mother took up the study of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy when I was a small child. The knowledge of Truth gained from the study of Christian Science, as taught me in Sunday school and by a loyal teacher of Christian Science, has been a vital, daily protection during my life.

There have been many healings in the intervening years. Two of the most recent ones were proofs that the law of Truth is ever present and immediately available for our help. In the summer of 1939, when stepping down from a crowded streetcar, I missed the step, falling with my entire weight on the side of my foot, and wrenching the ankle. The pain was so intense that I nearly lost consciousness, but immediately the Word of Truth was proved to be "quick, and powerful." After arising, I found a bench in a near-by subway station and sat for a few minutes realizing the truth of Mrs. Eddy's statement (Science and Health, p. 14), "Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,—neither in nor of matter,—and the body will then utter no complaints." It was necessary for me to keep an appointment, and as I went on my way the pain gradually subsided, and I was able to walk several blocks to my destination. In a few hours the pain was practically gone.

The other healing took place the following winter. I had been troubled for several months with my feet. At first the difficulty was attributed to improperly fitted shoes. Changes did not help. During my visit to a distant city the climax of the situation was reached. The healing had to take place or I must return home. The condition was so painful that it seemed impossible for me to walk any distance. A Christian Science Reading Room was located and the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly studied. God did answer my prayer, for as I left the Reading Room it was as if a voice said to me, "God is your support; you do not have to support yourself." As this moment of divine consciousness was realized, I was healed, and walked from that hallway with absolutely no pain, and the healing has been permanent. My concept of support was spiritualized and attributed to the correct source.

The tendency to take cold has been healed. From early childhood there was hardly a month during the winter when I was free from a cold. The healing occurred during a service in The Mother Church about seven years ago. The Second Reader was reading from the Bible (Luke 13:12), "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity," and suddenly I realized that I could be that woman. The cold, which had seemed so severe, took on an unimportant aspect in the face of these words and soon disappeared. I have been free from that tendency since then.

Early in my career came the realization that progress in Christian Science could be made only as I put God first. This has been a wonderful help in my profession and has made possible the opportunity for service in many unexpected ways. I desire to express in active service my deep gratitude to our dear Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, who says in Science and Health (p. 15), "The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and let our lives attest our sincerity."—(Mrs.) Ruth Barrett Arno, Boston, Massachusetts.

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