Forty years have passed since my first Christian Science healing. I joined the Presbyterian church in my teens and accepted gladly all it could bring. The Bible was lovingly studied; Christ became to me a presence to whom I could turn for counsel and comfort, and I was satisfied that I had the best that could be offered.
Many years later, when making a change in location, I entered the home of a loyal, earnest Christian Scientist. She spoke frankly of the work to which she gave her time outside business hours, and I began to take note of passages from the textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, to add to my treasures of Christian truth. I also read the testimonies in the periodicals, and finally asked for help for a so-called incurable condition. In spite of my doubt the condition was healed, and I found myself freer than I had ever hoped to be. A new concept of God dawned in my consciousness, and I turned in gratitude and joy to the serious study of Science. The experience demolished any further reliance on material remedies, and out they went, never to return.
The long held theories of false theology, however, were not so quickly routed. In my eager journey through the textbook I crossed swords with many statements, but finally prejudice retired from the scene, and when I earnestly prayed, "If this is true may I not refuse it, and if false may I be kept from believing it," my progress was simpler. At the end of a year of mental turmoil I could see why the statements I had questioned must be eternally true. When I saw also that the study of Christian Science leads to more tolerance for others and less indulgence of one's own failings; that it presents a practical method for obeying the commands of Christ Jesus, "Fear not," and, "Judge not"; and that here mortals can use their highest human faculty, and reason clearly from cause to effect, I was sure it could not be leading me astray.
