When a child, I was with my parents at a mineral water resort, where we had gone to seek health for my mother and myself. One day while I was out under a tree, looking up at the beautiful mountains and thinking about God, this thought came to me. Why cannot God heal? I went to my mother and asked her these questions: "Why do we take medicine? Cannot God heal us? He does not need medicine to do His work." My mother's answer was that God gave us the medicine: but I said, "Jesus didn't use medicine when he healed." Then she said, "Just wait, dear, some day you will know."
On our way home from this resort my mother became quite ill, and we had to stop in a strange town, where she passed on. In this town there was one person who knew of Christian Science, and who had just experienced a beautiful healing of tuberculosis. When she heard of my father's sorrow, this lady came to see him, told him of Christian Science, and gave him the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. Through reading this book my father was healed of asthma from which he had suffered many years, and in three days I was healed of a throat trouble for which I had been under medical care for two years or more. The healing came when this lady read to me from Science and Health and talked to me about the God of love who did not send sickness, but healed the sick. I have never had a return of the throat trouble since that time. But I have had other ills to overcome, as I was considered an invalid child with many material beliefs placed on me. One was a spinal trouble which at times left me almost helpless.
In the meantime father had moved back to our home, where there were no Christian Scientists, and the people had never heard of this religion. When our relatives heard that my father had Science and Health and was studying, they became very much concerned about his children, especially about me. as I was the most interested, and they tried in every way to show me how wrong it was. Knowing they were good people and devout Bible students, I became very much disturbed over what they told me. But I knew I had been healed of one trouble; and, too, my father was quite a Bible scholar and a consecrated Christian, and I could not believe he could go far wrong. However, this was all human opinion and did not give me an answer; so I went to God in earnest prayer to show me the way and to help me to know if this was the truth from Him—knowing I would stand regardless of everything if it proved to be so, but that if it proved to be of the devil, as I was being told, I would drop it at once. Then I took my Bible and opened it for my answer, and my eyes fell on these words from Isaiah. "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." My answer was from God and I knew it. No longer did I care what anyone said or did. I continued to read Science and Health, and the lady who gave my father the book sent us a Christian Science Quarterly and we read the Lesson-Sermons. I improved much under the study; but some of the ills were quite stubborn, and this friend advised my father to send me where I could be with Scientists and have present treatment. The way was opened up for me to come to this city. Here I had the privilege of attending Sunday school, for which I shall ever be grateful.
