I became interested in Christian Science...

James R. Getty

I became interested in Christian Science in 1908, and was instantaneously healed of stomach trouble when the statement was made to me, "There are no brains in your stomach." Later in the same year, through the help of a practitioner, I was able to pitch a one-hit game of baseball against a very strong team after a lay-off of almost a year. I stopped smoking, swearing, and drinking at that time, and in 1917, when I saw action in the first World War, I realized that I was indebted to Christian Science for marvelous protection from harm.

I gradually drifted away from Truth, however, and on February 22, 1938, I was rushed by ambulance to the Veterans Home in Napa County, California, paralyzed from my waist down, and put in a lock ward. I had taken a large overdose of sleeping tablets. During the next six or eight months I was in and out of that lock ward three times. All my teeth were extracted. I was finally released to the barracks with other veterans and advised not to return unless I wanted to be sent to Palo Alto or Napa Institute. I never returned to that hospital again to stay.

In 1939 I was sent to a government hospital in San Francisco for examination, and after two days' examinations by many doctors I was pronounced totally and permanently disabled and given a six dollars a, month pension while I was a member of the Veterans Home; I was also advised to go to Palo Alto for further treatment. This I refused to do, and I returned to the Veterans Home, Yountville, where I remained until October 15, 1942. My total income for 1941 was seventy-two dollars, out of which I paid in fatigue and orderly dues thirty-three dollars, leaving me net thirty-nine dollars.

In October, 1942, I learned I could secure work in a preflight school located in California. The Army doctor advised me against going, saying I should not last two days. He reminded me that I had done no work in the past five years. It was then that I secured the services of a Christian Science practitioner. Eleven months later, I was still working at the preflight school, ten hours a day, six days a week. I had received two unsolicited raises in salary and had become a member of The Mother Church. In August, 1943, I left the school to join the merchant marine, where I had been formerly employed in peacetime. On my last trip I was selected as No.2 shell passer on our largest gun. I love my present job in the merchant marine, and my next cruise will be to Alaska. I now weigh one hundred and fifty pounds, whereas. I formerly weighed only one hundred and twenty-three pounds; insomnia, constipation, lack of appetite high blood pressure, and a desire to die have all faded away one by one, and I am happy, healthy, and free.

I should like to say to those discouraged ones who are experiencing slow healing in Christian Science, Do the first task offered you, no matter how distasteful it seems to be. Remember, one man had to wash seven times in the river Jordan. When I was willing to take the first step, no matter how impossible mortal mind argued it was, and turned unreservedly to God for help, my healing began. There are no short cuts in Christian Science. Read and study Science and Health, together with the Bible, even though you cannot understand a word you read. At first I could only hold the book on my knees, but I kept on trying to read, knowing it is impossible to be kept from Truth.

I am now living the more abundant life the Master promised, and I look twenty years younger. I have also taken up the study of the violin again. I had not had my instrument out of the case more than once in the past five years. I now entertain the boys when we are at sea.

I am more deeply grateful than I can express to God for Christian Science, to Mary Baker Eddy, and to the practitioners who helped me when the way was dark and lonely. I am truly grateful for all the benefits I have received through the study and application of Christian Science.—James R. Getty,
San Francisco, California.

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