I would like to express my gratitude for Christian Science and for...

William E. Penning with contributions from Mary S. W. Penning

I would like to express my gratitude for Christian Science and for the wonderful healing I received lately. In high school in the Netherlands we were taught the Mendelian laws of heredity. As a boy I saw my mother suffer from gallstones, and I let this error enter my thought when one day I had a terrible pain in my abdomen. It was so severe that I could not sit in a chair or rest in my bed. I had learned in Christian Science that God is right here with us, that He fills all space, and that God is Love and never produces pain or any inharmonious situation. After walking up and down a good part of one night, I could not think clearly. I asked my wife to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital. My wife, who is also a Christian Scientist, said to me, "I wouldn't know how to do this."

A devoted Christian Science practitioner was praying for me, and my wife said, "You had better call the practitioner again." I did, and he repeated the following passage from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy (p. 246): "Man is not a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, life and death." He encouraged me to be steadfast and not give in but rely entirely on Christian Science.

I had uppermost in my thought that something would have to pass from my body before I could get rid of this terrible pain, because during previous attacks two small stones were passed. The practitioner told me—and this brought much light—that nothing needed to pass from my body. He gave me the following passage from Unity of Good by Mrs. Eddy (p. 20):

"First: God never made evil.
Second: He knows it not.
Third: We therefore need not fear it."

He told me I was God's child, His perfect reflection, embraced by His love and care. He also mentioned that body is governed by divine Mind only and that all the movements of body are governed by this divine Mind. After this telephone conversation and after I had realized what he had said, a peace came over me and I went to bed and suddenly the pain completely disappeared.

I am very grateful for getting a better and clearer understanding of Christian Science and for the healing power which goes with it. I have learned that we can apply Christian Science in any difficult situation, whether it is a physical or a mental problem.

I have had many proofs of this wonderful healing power of Science, and I am very grateful for the truly loving care and effective help the practitioner gave me. I am also grateful for having had class instruction.

William E. Penning
Boston, Massachusetts

I am deeply grateful and happy to verify my husband's testimony.

Confronted with the request for an ambulance, I suddenly was roused to the realization that indeed I would not know how to do this. It would have meant a total reversal of my complete reliance on the truths I had learned in Christian Science and found in our textbook, which I knew were being applied by the practitioner. My husband was told to ponder Mrs. Eddy's hymn No. 207 in the Christian Science Hymnal. I was deeply touched when I heard him sing it like a little child, humbly and confidently in the midst of seeming extreme pain. "O gentle presence, peace and joy and power," are the opening words. The pain soon vanished.

(Mrs.) Mary S. W. Penning

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