My first contact with Christian Science was when, as a small child, I witnessed the healing of a member of my family of invalidism through studying the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. Her progress was rapid until she reached the stage where it would be necessary to acknowledge Mrs. Eddy as God's divinely appointed messenger to this age. Her eyes were not opened to see this, and since she did not have a right estimate of our Leader, the message itself began to slip away. For years I struggled with this same prejudice, often saying, "Why do they mention her name so often?" However, Christian Science would not let me alone; but I drifted for years, constantly being brought face to face with some healing, and occasionally attending the church, but never accepting the divine plan in its entirety.
When I was in great extremity, a loving practitioner healed me instantaneously of all prejudice toward Mrs. Eddy, and I immediately saw, as all Christian Scientists do see, her rightful place in the thoughts of Christian Scientists. The practitioner explained to me that if one is grateful to God for His messenger, one spiritually-minded enough to bear witness to Truth, one would love the message, and not be fooled by false teaching. As I look back over the many healings and blessings which have come through the study of Christian Science, this stands out as the step for which I am most grateful, and I love to acknowledge Mrs. Eddy as our Leader, and her message as the final revelation. As she writes on page 174 of Science and Health: "Truth is revealed. It needs only to be practised." As this understanding and acknowledgment of our Leader took place I was healed of extreme nervousness, which had troubled me from childhood.
Gratitude, as Christian Science teaches, is one of the most powerful states of thought in which one can dwell, and truly I am grateful for a small understanding of gratitude, as I was at one time the most ungrateful person I have ever known. A test of my progress came when I awoke one morning with the feeling of being paralyzed; I could not move a muscle without extreme pain. But such a wonderful sense of gratitude filled my thought! Right in the midst of the pain I knew that it was as untrue about me as it would be about God. Help was asked from a practitioner, and I continued to feel so grateful to know that the condition was only a false sense. The following morning I awoke free, proving that we do not need to wait to receive something before being grateful, but we are so because we know that all discordant conditions are unreal, regardless of how real they may appear to be.
