Christian Science found me, or reasserted itself in my experience, on the sands of the Fiji Islands about seven years ago. My grandmother had been a devout student of this Science, and as a child I had attended the Christian Science Sunday School. Through reliance on Truth, I had enjoyed freedom from the diseases usually associated with childhood. However, circumstances were such that after I was twelve years of age and for the ensuing twenty-five years, I gave no thought to Christian Science as a religion, as a healing agent, or as the way of life. During this period, I had but a fragment of a backlog to sustain me spiritually in the responsibilities and problems that came to me. As time went on, an overburdened sense of confusion and worry took root in consciousness and finally resulted in a severe emotional breakdown.
As I daily walked on the beach of the Fiji Islands, where I had come to give some theatrical performances, I found myself praying to be led back to God, and I earnestly endeavored to piece together the words of "the scientific statement of being" from page 468 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. At first I could scarcely recall a line, but gradually I found myself able to say all of it aloud, and this refound truth brought with it temporary release from exhaustion and darkness and enabled me to go forward with the performances.
When we flew to Honolulu, however, my condition grew worse, and our performances had to be canceled. I was sent to a medical clinic and was finally flown home to California. Physicians there examined me and treated me, but without success. I was in a state of extreme fear and depression, unable to sleep at all, and in extreme pain.
