I had the wonderful privilege of being brought up in Christian Science, and when living in or near a town where there was a Christian Science Sunday School, I was a regular attendant. For this alone I can never be grateful enough.
During my childhood and young womanhood I suffered intensely from periodic attacks of bronchial asthma, some of them so acute that my life was sometimes despaired of. For two years, through the influence of a member of my family who was not interested in Christian Science, I tried every conceivable material remedy, but none was of any help in overcoming this condition. Unconsciously I had admitted into my thinking a number of material laws which had been laid down upon me. One was the inability to live in certain climates or localities; another was that certain food was bad for me. Then my mother and I awoke to the necessity of handling this illness in Christian Science. Each attack was met through the help of a loving practitioner, and to some extent false laws and fears were overcome. I still was not healed permanently, however, though the attacks were much less frequent and I was able to participate in all the sports and activities of a growing girl.
As I grew in the understanding of Christian Science and learned more of the indestructible perfection of Life and of man's real selfhood, the false laws which seemed to be governing me were annihilated. When I thought I was quite free, I was seized, however, with a very serious attack and was hardly able to breathe. A practitioner was called, and through her inspired work I began to see that, although many false laws had been eradicated, I still had a latent fear that the difficulty might return and that error had a history. The truth of the statement in Science and Health by our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy (p. 471), that "man is, and forever has been, God's reflection," was made clear to me, and I saw that there could be no fiery furnace. I was free, completely healed, and the healing has been permanent. Ever since that time I have been able to live in any climate or locality and to eat all types of food.
