"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" (Ps. 103:2). For the joy and peace and innumerable blessings that have come to me since I took up the study of Christian Science I am inexpressibly grateful to God.
This Science was presented to me many years ago when I was much in need of it. I longed to know more about God and how to pray. I had taken an appointment as a teacher to support myself and my little daughter and tried to carry on, though I had come to the end of my courage and strength and was conscious only of sorrow, loneliness, and doubt.
I fell ill with a serious throat disease for which nothing could be done because I was too weak to stand the treatment. I looked forward to the end, but "man's extremity" was "God's opportunity." The calmness, kindness, and fearlessness in the face of contagion of one who was interested in Christian Science made me wonder. When she sent me three Christian Science Sentinels, I reluctantly opened them, only because I had promised to read them. As I read I knew each article was inspired and was meeting a need. After I had read the testimonies of healing I surprised myself by saying out loud, "Thank You, God; I know they are true!" On my friend's next visit I asked her for the book mentioned in the testimonies. She lent me her copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. After I had read the chapter on Prayer, I knew I had found the pearl of great price. I continued to read Science and Health with the Bible, which was a new book in the light of Christian Science. On the third night it occurred to me that I was striving to keep awake to read, after suffering for years from insomnia. The insomnia was healed wholly and permanently, as was also the throat disease, for I suffered no ill effects. I was well during the quarantine and thankful for the uninterrupted time of study and contemplation it gave me.
Never shall I cease to be grateful for the spiritual uplift, the healing and regenerating effect, of this and of further study. On page 574 of Science and Health is written, "The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares." A realization of this and the comfort it gave healed me of sorrow. In a short time, through learning more of God and how to pray aright, I had a new sense of life, with a joy and peace I had not thought possible. For over thirty years I have relied on Christian Science, and many times I have found my own healing in helping others.
I am deeply grateful to Mrs. Eddy for giving us God's revelation to her; it is indeed the promised Comforter which Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, said would teach us all things. For class instruction, for membership in The Mother Church and in a branch church, and for all the activities of The Mother Church I grow daily more and more grateful.— Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa.
