I did not begin the study of Christian Science with the thought of physical healing, but because of a deep longing for something more than I was finding in my activity in an orthodox church. At this time of seeking I was led to ask my next-door neighbor, who was a Christian Science practitioner, what her religion taught about the questions that were troubling me. Her clear and loving explanation was very comforting, but best of all, she referred me to Bible passages and to citations in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, which she lent me so that I could find the answers for myself. I had not read long when I knew that this was what I needed, and I joyfully put aside the prejudice of years and opened my thought to receive the good that was there for me.
Soon afterward with our son, then a young child, I went to visit my parents in another state. One evening the boy manifested a heavy cold in his throat and chest. Loving suggestions were made by the family for material ways of relieving the condition, but I felt this was my opportunity to prove what I had been so joyously accepting, so I put the child to bed and earnestly began to realize that God's power and love were present to help us and that that was all we needed. We both went to sleep, and the next morning all evidence of the cold had vanished.
That experience was the first of many such proofs we have had in our family through the application of Christian Science, sometimes with the kind help of practitioners and other times through our own understanding. These include healings of broken bones entirely without material aid, influenza, a severe case of strangulated hernia, and what seemed to be typhomalaria.
