I first heard of Christian Science through picking up a copy of The Christian Science Journal in a local library. I had always been a delicate child, and at this time I was in deep trouble, having been ill for over a year through the effects of a tram accident. I had been under the care of three doctors without getting any better; in fact, I was so ill I did not wish to live. The doctors could not seem to diagnose the case at all, one saying it was one thing and one another, as the injury seemed so deep-seated. One testimony in the Journal appealed to me very much indeed, as the condition was similar to my own; so I wrote to the lady who had experienced the healing and explained my case to her. She told me to get in touch with a practitioner. I did so, and had treatment, and in a very short time I was entirely well. It was all very beautiful and wonderful.
After this I studied the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly daily and attended church services. I went on in this way for several years, then joined a branch church and later The Mother Church, but I did not make a deep study of this Science until a very severe testing time came.
Both my parents had passed on from cancer before I heard of Science, and I had always been afraid of this disease. Like Job of old, the thing I greatly feared came upon me, and I was to sense very ill. I had help, and it was considered necessary for me to enter a Christian Science House. For all the love and care I received there I can never express enough gratitude. With continuing help and my own study, the fear I had felt gradually lessened and finally went, and I found myself free. A statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, helped me very much. She says (p. 63): "In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry." I evidently did not protect my thought enough, for some time later the trouble appeared again. I had to have more help, but was finally completely healed. I know now that it was only a mental picture, deeply rooted in my consciousness, that had to be destroyed, and also that the real healing could not come till faults of character had been corrected. Much of the trouble had been caused through resentment and pride. I can never be grateful enough for what Christian Science has done for me; it has brought me back from the brink of the grave, and has enabled me to live a useful life.
