When a kind friend sent me to a Christian Science practitioner...

Willa Cotten

When a kind friend sent me to a Christian Science practitioner for healing many years ago she caused me to find the religion which answered all my questions about God, and which has continued to bless me in countless ways.

My first visit with the practitioner lasted several hours, during which she patiently denied my steady rehearsal of woes. I was assured that the problems could not be real because God never made them. He "saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). I was urged to stop claiming that I was ill and unhappy and to claim my heritage of dominion over such evils as a child of God.

Finally hope and peace began to replace the misery I had endured, and I returned home with a song in my heart. A chronic stomach disorder was healed immediately. My general condition improved daily as I learned to study the weekly Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly.

Three weeks afterward I accompanied some friends on a fishing trip and had an opportunity to apply the Science I was learning. Our boat was anchored on a lake some distance from shore, when one of the party made a cast toward a school of fish. The three pronged hooks struck me below the left shoulder blade. The force of the blow embedded the hooks so deeply that they had to be cut out.

My friends considered the injury serious and prepared to return home at once so that I could have prompt medical attention. However, unwilling for our outing to be interrupted, I insisted that all would be well. During the remainder of the day I held to the thought that I must not admit evil had occurred, since God did not make it. The following day the cut was healed over, and in another two or three days it disappeared. None of the aftereffects that my friends had feared ever occurred. This valuable experience strengthened my conviction that in Christian Science I had found the truth of being, and it taught me that I could rely on it to heal.

In the intervening years the study and application of Christian Science have led me to the solution of many problems. Physical healings include deafness in one ear, migraine, believed inherited from my father, polio, chronic appendicitis, colds, burns, and others. I have enjoyed protection and guidance in business affairs, and a difficult family relationship was adjusted when I turned to divine Love for help.

I am grateful for membership in The Mother Church. Branch church membership has afforded numerous opportunities for growth. A term as Second Reader has provided the impetus for deep study of the Scriptures and will ever remain among the most precious experiences of my life. Class instruction from a consecrated teacher in my early years of study enabled me to better demonstrate Christian Science. I am increasingly grateful to Mrs. Eddy for establishing the religion which meets all human needs.

(Miss) Willa Cotten
New York, New York

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit