When I hear or read of people expressing gratitude for having been brought into Christian Science I cannot but realize the privilege it is to have known this demonstrable religion all my life. I am deeply thankful to have been free from dependence on medical science, especially during my service in the British Army in World War II.
I registered as a Christian Scientist and was never refused a pass to attend a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, in the nearest city, which was at times from twenty-five to fifty miles from camp and sometimes out of bounds to troops without a special pass. I feel it was a consequence of this faithfulness to Truth that I never lost a day of duty through illness during my three and a half years in the Army. Although there were occasions when it would have been easy to give in to error and to have time off, I did not do so, as I realized that it would make my next stand for Principle more difficult.
This period of separation from loved ones proved a time of spiritual advancement, as witnessed by the fact that I became a member of The Mother Church when I was in Algiers, North Africa, and gave my first testimony in Rome, Italy, at a Wednesday evening testimony meeting held there at the Christian Science Service Center. This utterance of the truth, made with the encouragement of the Officiating Minister, came after ten years of struggle against fear of giving a testimony. On another occasion at a Wednesday testimony meeting I was helped by the words, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). I thought, Well, if I cannot speak without fear, I'm jolly well going to speak with it! And I did. Each subsequent opportunity proved less frightening until it became comparatively easy for me to express my gratitude in public.
