The study and application of Christian Science have never failed to give me comfort and assurance. Before becoming interested in this Science, I sought the answer to my questions through persons and things. I am now beginning to realize that only the truth, as unfolded in this teaching, can meet our needs.
I came to Christian Science for physical healing. First I found an improved belief, and as our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, tells us in the textbook, Science and Health (p. 296), "An improved belief is one step out of error, and aids in taking the next step and in understanding the situation in Christian Science." My trouble was a chronic condition of painfully swollen and inflamed throat. Each year my fear of it grew instead of diminishing. There was also a fear of physicians. Finally, when material remedies no longer gave any relief, my mother recommended calling a Christian Science practitioner. I readily agreed, though I never had heard of or known anyone interested in Christian Science except my mother, whose interest had been aroused slightly, many years before. The practitioner who was called was never in our home, the work being entirely absent treatment. I gained immediate relief and was up and about my duties in a very short time. I purchased the textbook, and though I understood very little, my thought was receptive, and I accepted it as absolute truth.
In the years that have followed I have never doubted, knowing that any failure to demonstrate the truth was due only to my inability to apply or understand it. Several years later, after I had married and moved to another city, this trouble returned. We read (ibid., p. 449), "A grain of Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnipotent is Truth, but more of Christian Science must be gained in order to continue in well doing." I shall always cherish the great love and understanding which were reflected by the practitioner who came to visit me at this time. She turned my thought to the Bible and gave me references to read from it and also from our textbook. One of these references (II Tim. 1:7), "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," has been a continued help and comfort throughout the years. Through the operation of Truth the fear was destroyed, and I was completely and permanently healed. This was over twenty-five years ago, and neither the fear which I had entertained previously nor the condition itself has ever returned. From this time on I knew that I wanted only the help of Christian Science for myself and my family.
