"When the sick or the sinning awake to realize their need of what they have not, they will be receptive of divine Science, which gravitates towards Soul and away from material sense, removes thought from the body, and elevates even mortal mind to the contemplation of something better than disease or sin. The true idea of God gives the true understanding of Life and Love, robs the grave of victory, takes away all sin and the delusion that there are other minds, and destroys mortality" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 323).
At the point of receptivity thought becomes aware of that which can save or redeem us from the suffering of ignorance. Christian Science came to us through my mother's receptivity of the truth.
When twelve years of age I was given only a week or two to live. Complications resulting from scarlet fever were the reason for the doctors' verdict. My mother, upon leaving the hospital, walked the streets feeling distraught. In some desperate fashion she prayed, and her prayer, reaching beyond the helplessness of her human sense of motherhood, was answered. Walking along a street familiar to her, she became aware for the first time of a Christian Science church. Lights shone from the windows, and the doors were open, for a Wednesday evening testimony meeting was in progress. Remembering that she had heard that Christian Science heals as Jesus healed, through the power of God alone, my mother went in. Her absorption in her trouble and grief made her almost oblivious to the reading from the desk, but she heard each speaker tell of experiences of healing through Christian Science with sincerity and conviction. At the close of the meeting a woman spoke to her lovingly and comfortingly, and my mother came away conscious and convinced of two things; one, that God does not send us discords and disease; two, that a right understanding of God brings healing and overcomes the belief, in death.
