I shall never forget the first time I entered a Christian Science church and felt the sense of peace which came over me. I realized that the people I saw there had something I had not, and I thought that if all they said was true, there was hope for me. I borrowed the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and read these words in the Preface (p. vii): "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings." To me, this truth was a great revelation. It enabled me to rely entirely on God.
I had not long to wait before a testing time came. A lump appeared on my body, and the pain was so severe one night that I could not remain in bed. These words came clearly to my thought (Ps. 46:10): "Be still, and know that I am God." Immediately all pain ceased, and I knew that the healing was taking place. Three days later the lump disappeared.
I was also healed of a poisoned finger, the effect of which had reached the shoulder. At that time I was following my occupation as a tramcar driver. After asking for exemption from work for a day to work out this problem, I went into a park and there saw a beautiful display of flowers. As I stood looking at the beauty and perfection of these flowers, I realized my perfection as a child of God and perceived that "the divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal" (Science and Health, p. 70). Immediately the finger drained. It was indeed a case of mental surgery. I went to work the following day and used the hand freely. The whole condition healed within a week and left no scar.
I was wonderfully protected on several occasions during bombing attacks in World War II and also during three years on fishing vessels. On one occasion we were making for harbor in a gale when the skipper asked me to pray for the safety of the crew. I assured him that God was in control. It was wonderful the way we were brought through the gale.
On another occasion this same skipper had a larger boat, and we were again coming from the fishing grounds in a gale. Immediately after we had reached the lock gates and entered them, the skipper tried to go astern. Only then he found we had just lost our propeller, which had dropped off inside the lock gates. I have always found that when we have done our prayerful work, we receive that divine protection we read about in the ninety-first Psalm.
Of the healings in my family of four children I will mention just a few. Bronchitis and measles have been instantaneously healed, and the effects of accidents have been quickly overcome. My eldest son was healed of a tubercular foot through the consecrated work of a Christian Science practitioner after a specialist had stated that immediate amputation of the foot was necessary in order to save the boy's life. I shall never forget the love the practitioner reflected in lifting my thought above the material to the spiritual man. The healing took place more than twenty-four years ago and has been permanent.
Whilst I am grateful for these healings, I am more grateful that they have brought God very near to me, whether on sea or on land. As Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., pp. 12, 13), "In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as 'a very present help in trouble.' "
I thank God, the Giver of all good, for Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, and for Mrs. Eddy, as well as for the dear one who first introduced Christian Science to me. Also I am grateful for membership in The Mother Church and in a branch church, in which it has been my privilege to serve as Second Reader, as a member of the executive board, and on various committees. All I am I owe to the teachings of Christian Science.— Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales.
