Christian Science came to me like the dawn of morning after long hours of night watching. It was the answer to a lifelong desire for an understanding of God and my relation to Him. As a child, I was eager to find the right, and early united with a denominational church, seeking for years, through active work, to fin the spiritual life and satisfaction that I craved. It is with gratitude that I acknowledge the help and growth this honest desire brought to me. As the years went by, however, there grew in me a great heart hunger and loneliness, merging at times into melancholy.
During this time I was not only unhappy, but in constant distress because of ill health. I had been subject to severe headaches since childhood, besides suffering from chronic malaria, sore throats, and great susceptibility to colds. Because of a condition which my physician pronounced nervous exhaustion. I had been kept in bed for nine weeks in an effort to build up. Finally, a trip west was recommended by the physician. Arriving in California, I at once became associated with a young student of Christian Science, and after a little time spent in trying to grasp the meaning of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we were led to attend a Wednesday evening meeting. The wonder of that experience has never left me. Some mainspring within me seemed unloosed for the first time, and I returned home in awed silence. This sense of uplift did not leave me for several days, and when it did I felt that I must know more of that which had caused me even a brief period of peace. I asked for treatment, and after three visits to the practitioner a new world dawned upon my consciousness. Fears that had so long haunted me—fears of every imaginable kind—faded away. It was the revelation of Truth found in these words of Mrs. Eddy's which set me free from the doubts that had so long troubled me: "Mortals are not fallen children of God. They never had a perfect state of being, which may subsequently be regained. They were, from the beginning of mortal history, 'conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity'" (Science and Health, p. 476). Again, on page 481 I read, "In Science we learn that it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will be found that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not a sinful soul."
In the joy of being able to turn completely away from the old hampering thought that I was a sinful mortal, to the realization that my true self was never less than God made me,—His spiritual image,— there came a great sense of strength. I forgot my body. Eye trouble that had almost altogether prevented me from using my eyes was so far overcome that I was able to read hours at a time without even thinking of my eyes. Insomnia, indigestion, and all the pangs of nervousness left me, through no conscious effort to overcome them. Faults of disposition were corrected, and, best of all, the Bible became a wellspring of joy. For some years I lived in such assurance of God's presence and power as to be able to banish almost instantly any physical discord. Then came a trial of my understanding, which tested every vision that had come to me of God's goodness and sustaining power. Step by step for ten years I have been proving the truth and I am grateful to be able to say that Christian Science has never failed me. I know from experience that "every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger" (Science and Health, p. 410). Mrs. Eddy's work has made her the friend of all mankind, and as I more fully grasp the meaning of Christian Science and its redemptive power I thank God from day to day for her life and inspired Leadership. — Paducah, Ky.
