For the understanding of Christian Science which I have gained I am indeed grateful. As a family, we lived for many years in bondage to sickness and fear; rarely a week passed without our calling a physician, and often he was at our house several times a day. There was not much in the way of physical illness that we did not experience, from croup to a broken hip. The climax was reached when my husband passed on and I was left alone with two frail children. The winter before I turned to Christian Science one daughter underwent a surgical operation, and the other passed through a serious attack of nervous prostration. There came a day when I was desperate and did not know which way to turn; the future seemed like a great black wall, with no way over or around it.
That morning Christian Science was offered to me, and although I knew nothing of it I sent for a copy of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. That afternoon it was brought to me and I began to read. I had always believed that God sent all the calamities upon me as a punishment for wrongdoing, even though I had tried to do right. As I continued to read Science and Health I found that the troubles were the result of my own wrong thinking; that God did not send them, for God is Love. Then I earnestly began to seek "first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;" and as I gained in understanding the difficulties began to fade away.
It is nearly four years since the study of Christian Science was taken up, and during that time we have had many experiences of physical healing; indeed we have attained almost perfect health, and every material need has also been supplied. Then, too, we are learning to know God, "whom to know aright is Life eternal," as our Leader tells us in the Preface to Science and Health (p. vii). I am grateful for Christian Science,—this truth that does make free,—for a religion that abundantly satisfies, and for an understanding of God as infinite good.— Kalamazoo, Mich.
