For the past fourteen years I have been receiving good and perfect gifts from our Father-Mother God, as revealed to me in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. The thought has come to me that I, too, have an opportunity to give a gift by sharing the good that I have received.
Christian Science was first presented to me in the year 1918 after I had been bedfast and seriously ill for eighteen months. I had been a church member from childhood and read the Bible a great deal, but frankly admitted that I did not understand it. I was not at all satisfied with the confusion and discord in my life. As my case was so serious and the treatment so prolonged, with no improvement, the doctor decided I should be moved to a hospital in a near-by town, where we could have a consultation of more skilled doctors. After four days of X-rays and medical examinations, I was pronounced incurable so far as an operation was concerned, for they told me that every organ in the abdomen was tubercular and an operation would be useless. So I was taken back home to await the supposedly inevitable outcome.
I knew nothing of Christian Science, since there was no church in our town, and I had never seen any Science literature; but when a man, who called at my home every week, asked if I would like to read something about it I told him that I should be glad to, although the thought uppermost then was to pass the time away, more than that I was expecting any beneficial results from reading. He sent some copies of the Sentinel, and when he asked me how I liked them, I said that it was beautiful reading and I enjoyed them, but that I did not understand how they could help a sick person. Later, another Scientist gave me a copy of Science and Health and I began to read in earnest with a great desire to understand every word of it. I read slowly, going over the same paragraphs many, many times, until I came to page 14, where our dear Leader says: "Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,—neither in nor of matter.—and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well." I closed my eyes and pondered over this thought, and from then on it seemed that the whole chapter on Prayer was written for me alone. I read on and became so wholly interested that I never knew just when the swelling and pain left. When I noticed this, I called my mother, and she could hardly believe it. We thanked God for this wonderful healing; but I did not immediately arise; I seemed to be afraid, and I wanted only to continue reading and to be happy and thankful, to know that I was going to live and be well. In a few more days the desire came to get up and dress. By this time, when I was not reading I was repeating the Lord's Prayer and its spiritual interpretation by Mrs. Eddy and "the scientific statement of being" (Science and Health, pp. 16, 17, 468). I began to realize that I could not be afraid, for "perfect love casteth out fear." Now that I knew God is all-powerful, what had I to be afraid of? I placed my feet upon the floor and stood up, never doubting but that it was the right and natural thing to do. I dressed; and from that time on, I am happy to say, Christian Science has been my first, instead of my last, resort, and when properly applied it has never failed me, but has proved time and again that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (ibid., p. 494).
