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"I HAVE BEEN NEWBORN"
Twenty years ago I attended a testimony meeting at First Church of Christ, Scientist, of this city. I was in great need of physical and mental healing. Although I heard testimonies of healing of so-called incurable diseases, I said it was all humbug, that those people who testified had been hysterical and imagined they had these ailments, because if they had had them they never could have been healed. Mrs. Eddy says in "Rudimental Divine Science" (p. 11), "Sickness is the schoolmaster, leading you to Christ." It was indeed my schoolmaster, for it was leading me for twenty years, until man's extremity became God's opportunity. Fifteen years ago I went to Europe in search of health. I visited four countries, consulted the best physicians, tried everything that materia medica had to offer in the way of medicine and treatments of all kinds, but gradually grew worse. I thought that if I ever could return to the United States I would try Christian Science. When in Lausanne, Switzerland, in July, 1914, I was told that there was a Christian Science practitioner there. I at once asked to have her come to see me, which she did. At that time I was scarcely able to stand or to walk across the room. The practitioner gave me a treatment, and told me to come to see her in two days, which I did, although I had to walk a block to the tram and ride for half an hour. The practitioner gave me the Sentinel to read, but after looking through it I said it was all like Greek to me, that I did not understand the articles. She lovingly replied, "Never mind about the articles just now; read the testimonies." I devoured those testimonies, and all the time I was reading them I realized that there was no reason why I should not be healed. And so, I have been healed of brain exhaustion; I could scarcely read or write. To show how complete has been my healing I will say that I have been doing translations and have worked from 8:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. every day without experiencing any sense of fatigue. I have also been healed of inflammation of the spine and of intestinal indigestion. For a year before I had treatment in Christian Science I lived on oatmeal gruel, not being able to digest any other food. After the first treatment the practitioner told me to eat anything I wished, so I at once began to partake of food I had not dared to eat for twenty years, yet I suffered no ill effect. I was healed of recurrent acute attacks of intercostal neuralgia, for which I had resorted to morphine. Since coming into Christian Science I have had two attacks, but they have been overcome by holding to the truth in the twenty-third psalm, "I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." I have been healed of varicose veins, of weak arches, and of "a nervous heart," have been able to discard the supports which I wore in my shoes, and have been healed of sleeplessness. The pamphlet, "Awake, thou that sleepest," destroyed forever the fear of not sleeping. I found that when the fear of the results of insomnia was destroyed, and I realized that it did not matter whether I slept or not, I had dominion. I have been healed of fear, of ease in matter, of impatience, of resentment, — in fact, I have been newborn. Chronic sciatica has also been overcome. I could not walk without the aid of two canes. This healing did not take place all at once. It was the result of persevering and persistent study and application of the truth, as I understood it, to the daily problems. I find that with each overcoming the mist grows less and the light shines more brightly. On the second of this month (June) when on my journey to Boston for the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church, we had a most wonderful demonstration of divine protection. I was reading the Monitor, and in the middle of an article I stopped reading and realized that divine intelligence was governing the engineer of the train. I then resumed my reading. It must have been about five minutes later that the train started to go at a terrific speed and then came to a sudden stop — it was so sudden that we were nearly thrown out of our seats. The rods on both sides of the engine, which move up and down as the wheels revolve, were broken and twisted. The engineer saw a cloud of dust and stones, and not knowing what had happened put on the brakes; when he saw what had happened, he could not understand why we had escaped a terrible wreck, because according to all material laws the engine, which was a large compound one, ought to have turned over. Everybody marveled at the wonderful escape, but to me it seemed perfectly natural that there should have been no serious accident. This proves the rule in the ninety-first psalm, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." I could go on indefinitely telling of the wonderful healings that I have had in the last four years, during which my only physician and my only medicine have been Christian Science. Through my healing my son has also taken up the study of Christian Science. I praise God for all these blessings, and my gratitude is boundless to the loving woman who fought so valiantly in order to expose the nothingness of evil and demonstrate the allness of God. To the extent that we live and practice the rules set forth in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" do we manifest our gratitude. Sara G.
Hackes
Christian Science Sentinel, August 17, 1918 |
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