The parable of the sower and the seed was very clearly illustrated in my experience of coming into Science; for Christian Science was brought to me three times before I was ready to accept it, showing that then only was the soil well enough prepared for the seed of Truth to grow.
I have now been in Science for almost twenty-one years, and feel the need of expressing my gratitude for all it has meant in my life. Of the many blessings which have come to me I wish to mention only a few. The first demonstration I witnessed was in Hannover, Germany, when our maid, who had been given up by the physicians, was healed of tuberculosis of the lungs. I was probably too young at that time really to understand what had taken place; and a number of years elapsed before another demonstration so startled me that it induced me to find out what this power was that worked so efficiently, overthrowing all man-made laws of sickness. It was an instantaneous healing of inflammation from oak poisoning, manifested in an alarming form on the face of a friend. At that time I was living in San Francisco, California, and was in a depressed mental state, due to various experiences through which I had gone. I shall never forget the light which flooded my thinking after the first visit to a Christian Science practitioner. He very clearly pointed out to me that I was living in a self-constructed prison, but that the doors were thrown open wide, inviting me to come out into the beautiful freedom of Truth. In a very short time all the oppressive mental pictures were destroyed, as I began to study diligently the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy; and joy and happiness entered my consciousness.
One day when pondering the wonderful promises contained in this book, I realized that if I could unreservedly accept the underlying truth, namely, that God is good and the only creator, and that consequently all that He made is good and perfect, as His reflection, this truth would heal me of a throat trouble under which I had been laboring for several years, and which had been declared incurable by various specialists in Brazil and in California. I had been unable to use my voice for any length of time, even to talk, without getting quite hoarse, and of course had been unable to sing at all. When I talked this problem over with the practitioner, he assured me that I was on the right path, and that I should sing without fear, praising God. So I went home and sang, and from that time on I have had no difficulty in that respect.
