I have so much to be grateful for that I hardly know where to begin. My earliest recollections of home and childhood are the prayers at night at my mother's knee. I was raised in a Christian home and joined in the family's faith with an honest desire to live it; but as I grew older, the attraction of the world lessened that of the church. Then came marriage and prosperity; but when the storms of illness, fear, financial reverses, and discouragement came, I had to learn that prosperity is a poor substitute for wealth of spiritual understanding.
Doctors and medicine failed me. I strained my body while lifting a heavy load and was advised that I must continually wear a support, keep off my feet as much as possible, and not lift any weight or I would be sent to the hospital and placed in a plaster cast for six weeks or more. I prayed earnestly, for I had almost lost hope that there was a God. Now I know "that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebr. 11:6). My prayer was answered in a most remarkable way, for at the darkest hour an old friend came into our home. Seeing the need, he told me of Christian Science and advised me to get Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and read it. I had never heard of the book or of Mrs. Eddy, so I got it more out of obedience and curiosity than with any hope that reading a book would help my case.
I became so interested in what I read that I lost all thought of a physical body and its claims. One morning, instead of taking the car, I walked a mile and a half to my shop. When I arrived, three men next door needed some help lifting a heavy object, for they required a man for each corner of it, so I went to their assistance. As we passed through the doorway, the other man on my end let go because there was not room enough for both of us to pass through at the same time, which left half the load for me to carry. I managed it with ease, thinking nothing of it. During the morning I discovered that I had forgotten to wear the support. At once I started to return home; then it came to me that I had walked and lifted the heavy load without harm. I realized that I had been healed of the fear and dread through reading Science and Health. Joy and gratitude filled my heart.
