In gratitude to God I give this testimony. Many years ago, after an operation in a hospital, I realized that I probably would not recover. One night I was awakened and nearly overcome by a great fear of death. Then I distinctly heard a voice say, "Why do you not pray?" I felt utterly lost, for, while I had been raised in a home where the Bible was read daily and its teachings put into practice, and my parents had been active church members and good Christian people, the prayers in their church always awed me. As I recalled my early church life, the same voice spoke to me again saying, "You know the Lord's Prayer." I did know the Lord's Prayer, and I prayed this prayer continually for some time. Later I was removed to my home and eventually regained my health.
Soon after this a neighbor asked me to go with her to a Christian Science Wednesday evening testimony meeting, saying she had never attended one and was curious. My husband was in the East at the time, but I took our little daughter and went with the neighbor. The lesson read from the desk was on prayer. When the First Reader announced that we would pray silently and then audibly repeat the Lord's Prayer, I felt that my prayer in the hospital had been answered. I came away from this service greatly uplifted. My daughter and I returned to the Sunday service and attended regularly all the time my husband was away from home. When he returned, I spent the entire day telling him of this new religion. Then I said to him, "I don't wish to go further into this unless it interests you." He replied, "I shall be glad to go on Sunday." He did, and we have attended regularly ever since.
We placed our daughter in the Sunday School, where she continued to go until she reached the age of twenty, when she became a member of The Mother Church and of a branch church. Eventually we also became members of The Mother Church and of the same branch church.
