Just as Moses led the children of Israel for forty years from the land of bondage into the promised land of freedom, so for forty ears Christian Science has led me into continually greater spiritual freedom. Through Mary Baker Eddy's revelation of divine Truth all may be delivered from the darkness of the carnal mind. My debt of gratitude to Mrs. Eddy for her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," can be paid only in deepest humility and joyful service to God.
I turned unreservedly to Christian Science forty years ago because it seemed as though my affections and motives were valueless; "the God of my fathers" seemed to have proved impotent. As a last resort I sought the help of a Christian Science practitioner. I learned that it was not God who had proved impotent, but that it was belief in the false teachings about Him which had brought me to physical collapse. I had received kind and skillful medical attention, but the core of the difficulty remained. Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 390), "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony."
As a child in Sunday School I had been taught Christ Jesus' words (John 14:1), "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." I wondered what these words meant and how they could apply practically to me in meeting the problems of everyday living. The learned clergyman who instructed me when I later became a church member never made the answer clear. But Christian Science reveals God as Life eternal and man as the son of God. So I came to understand God as divine Principle, man as His son, and Jesus as the Way-shower. The great Master I could now believe in, and I desired to understand more of his teachings. With infant steps I could begin to follow his example in casting out devils of false belief, healing myself and helping others through an understanding of the Christ gained through my study of the Holy Bible as illumined by Mrs. Eddy's writings.
