With a desire to express my gratitude through the channel which our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, provided for that purpose, I embrace the privilege, knowing that in this way it will reach around the world and bear witness to the healing and comforting power of Truth.
The peace, happiness, and contentment radiated in the lives of Christian Scientists was what first attracted me to make a search for the teachings of this new-old religion. I had been reared in a religious home, and always had a longing for spiritual things. My church-home and active affiliation with it were held in high regard. But as I look back now, I see that my thought of service and my Christian living were wholly from a sense of duty. The fear of future punishment was ever with me and I used to do what I called praying in advance. I asked God to forgive me for any sin that I might have committed from the time I prayed last,—until He took me out of the world,—thinking that in case of an accident or sudden death, and I did not have the time to pray, my soul would be lost. Oh, blessed truth! what bliss to find a God such as our dear Leader has made known to us.
This study was not taken up for physical help, but I longed for a God of love, as well as for a practical and logical religion. One of the first healings that I recall was the disappearance of a cough which had annoyed me for many years. Physicians had pronounced it a nervous cough, and the thought was that it had been inherited, as my father had a similar belief. After studying Christian Science for a few years this left me. I had taken no particular note of it, until one day when talking with a servant who had lived in our home before I had become interested in Christian Science, she asked the question, "What did you do to get rid of that terrible cough you used to have?" It dawned upon me then that I had been healed, and I was happy to tell her that through the study of the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, I had begun to possess my freedom from bondage.
