I first heard of Christian Science while attending school in Boston. At that time I was instantaneously healed of a very severe attack of neuralgia by one of Mrs. Eddy's students, and the seed was sown in my consciousness that did not seem to germinate for some years. In the pride of intellect I criticized "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and did not care to study it; but the tender words of the practitioner remained with me, "Remember that whenever you have a great need, the truth is ever available."
Although I stumbled along, trying to satisfy myself with the husks of materiality, when the moment of need came I went at once in search of the truth. A deeply loved sister passed away, leaving to my care a boy only a few weeks old, and when he reached the age of six his father married again and I was forced to surrender all claims to the child. The conditions of his going away were of such a nature as to arouse great grief, bitterness, and resentment in my thought. I went at once to a friend in Chicago who was studying Christian Science, and she and her husband did much to prepare my thought for the truth. The first glimpse of light came through the study of Mrs. Eddy's interpretation of this sentence in the Lord's Prayer: "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Our Leader's words are: "And Love is reflected in love" (Science and Health, p. 17). Then I awoke to realize that my consciousness was too full of the opposite qualities to reflect Love, God.
The transforming work was slow but joyous. There were few if any moments of discouragement after the way was once opened. When at last sorrow, regret, and condemnation had passed away, I understood that "whatever purifies, sanctifies, and consecrates human life, is not an enemy, however much we suffer in the process" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 8). A great joy, born of God, flooded my consciousness, and I began to glimpse the new heaven and earth.
