“I love the richness of the testimonies, all bearing witness to truth”

I have loved reading the compilation you gave us (I think I am now on my third read through)—its direct access to healing, to what is true. I love the richness of the testimonies, all bearing witness to truth, and so many occurring under what appeared to be dire material circumstances.

I love the examples of clear conviction, yes even in the face of death, such as the woman who took her son home after he had apparently drowned, insisting on what was true, dismissing fear, and holding to that Life that can only result in life. I also love the one about the man who experienced extreme difficulty walking, but persisted in dragging himself to The Mother Church, holding courageously to what he felt was possible and true, and making steady, albeit slow, progress.

There have been times when it was difficult to read or even to pray that I would go to these testimonies and they would anchor me, because as the quote on the title page says, they “bear testimony to Truth.” These testimonies have made some of Mrs. Eddy’s writings come more vividly to life for me, such as: “Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony” (S&H 495:16).

In my practice of Christian Science, I have gained a sense of being washed clean of all erroneous, mis-education about the body. Shedding that mis-education has led to freedom—the freedom to truly become the idea that God created. “Ye shall know that truth and the truth shall set you free” has a larger, more fully seen meaning—Mind, Life, Soul expressed fully and in service to others.

Shortly after finishing the book for the first time, I got a call from a friend saying her daughter was having difficulty getting pregnant and asking if I would pray. I said yes, knowing, but not trying to explain, the difference between prayer and treatment.

As I listened, the thought kept coming that this young woman’s family was complete. I knew what God had created, and was not at all impressed by what medical professionals had to say about physical conditions that would make it difficult for her to get pregnant.

A few weeks later my friend mentioned that her daughter was pregnant.