This testimony is written in...

Joan Nanette Wilson

This testimony is written in gratitude to God. My parents lived in a small town in India, and as they were earnest students of Christian Science, I grew up in this religion and have never had to take material remedies. Later I realized how immune I had been from ailments supposed to be connected with childhood.

Although I have lived most of my life in the tropics, I have not had to undergo injections, inoculations, or vaccinations, except when a government order made it compulsory to do so.

On one occasion when there was a cholera epidemic in the district, I appeared to have all the symptoms that were being widely discussed and published in the local papers. Although I had been trying all morning to hold to the truth stated by Mrs. Eddy in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 165), "I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing," I felt impelled to ask permission to stay away from work that afternoon, as I was feeling so unwell. A fellow worker in the office who heard this asked me, "Aren't you a Christian Scientist?"

As I had made a point of avoiding the mention of my religion or advertising the fact that I was a Christian Scientist whenever possible, when the above question was asked, I saw in a flash that I was faced with the temptation which temporarily overcame Peter—that of denying Christ. Yet I knew that the Greek meaning of the word Peter was Rock, or Truth, and that it was this Truth upon which I relied. So I confidently avowed that I was indeed a student of Christian Science. After the lunch hour I returned to work well.

On one occasion the government issued an order that everybody should be vaccinated. I resented this, but after studying what Mrs. Eddy says on pages 219 and 220 of Miscellany, I submitted. However, I had not quite cleared my thought of resentment, and the next day my arm was much inflamed. Moreover, I was told that there would be large scars because I had not been vaccinated for such a long time. I really got down to some earnest praying, turned out the erroneous thoughts, and expressed gratitude for God's loving protection. The next day I awoke with no sign of inflammation, and there is no scar or mark left.

I am very grateful that I became a member of The Mother Church at the age of twelve years, as later this proved a sure anchor when I was subjected to the temptations of social drinking and smoking.

To set down all that I have to be thankful for would take too much space. I have been saved from drowning on two occasions, and protected from earthquakes, storms, and fires. I have also been given countless other proofs of the ever-present love of God. I am especially grateful for my experience as Second Reader of a Christian Science Society in India and for the way which opened for me to leave that country for the purpose of taking class instruction.

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that my debts of gratitude to God, to Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, and to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, the divinely inspired revelator of Truth to this age, can only be paid in the measure in which I endeavor to translate my professions of Christian Science into daily practice.—(Miss) Joan Nanette Wilson, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.

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