When quite a young woman and a comparatively new student of Christian Science, I married. With this partnership I accepted the responsibility of being a stepmother to four small boys. In the short time that I had studied Christian Science prior to my marriage, I had found it to be a practical religion. So healing truths from the Bible and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy now lifted the burden of a false sense of responsibility.
The greatest blessing came to the family when my husband decided that he wanted the boys to be enrolled in the Christian Science Sunday School. In addition, he began the study of the Bible Lessons in the Christian Science Quarterly, attended the church services, and later became a member of a branch church. This united us as a family in our efforts to understand God. It helped us to demonstrate His care and guidance in solving family problems.
The boys readily accepted the truth as taught in the Sunday School that God is Father-Mother, an ever-present help from which they could never be separated. They soon learned how to approach and solve many of their own problems. Bee and wasp stings, boils, toothaches, colds, and sprained ankles were some of the difficulties that they overcame quickly.
One day when my husband and I returned home after a short absence, we found a scene which showed us how effective the boys' training in Christian Science had been. One of them had injured his ankle, and the others were gathered around him, taking turns reading to him from the Bible and from Science and Health. There was no panic because of their parents' absence at the time of the accident, nor were they alarmed at the picture of an injured ankle.
We called a Christian Science practitioner to help lift our thoughts above the injury, and he asked us to study the one hundred and twenty-first Psalm, which reads in part, "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved." The swelling and discoloration left immediately. The pain was overcome later that evening when the boy agreed to sing and rejoice rather than to indulge self-pity and to cry over the condition. Within five days he was at his post in school, taking part in all his normal activities. Some years later, while serving in the Army, he was told that his ankle had been broken, but an X ray showed it had healed perfectly.
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes (p.445), "Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with Truth and Love, and illustrates the unlabored motion of the divine energy in healing the sick." The truth of this statement was made practical to me at a time of childbirth. Although I had been told that I would never be able to have a child, I realized, some time after having class instruction in Christian Science, that this medical law had been set aside. When it became evident that the time for delivery was close at hand, a call was placed for the doctor, who had agreed to come to our home. Upon his arrival he said that the birth would take place within the hour. However, after I had undergone five or six hours of exhausting labor, he made a further examination. This examination revealed a bone obstruction. He said that unless medical surgery was submitted to at once, he would not take any responsibility for my life or for that of the child.
At this point I requested help of a Christian Science practitioner. Human will was silenced as soon as he arrived. He said to me, "Pray, 'Thy will be done, not mine,' and trust the unlabored motion of Mind." We continued to spiritualize thought by singing "The Mother's Evening Prayer" written by Mrs. Eddy (Poems, pp. 4, 5). From this time until the effortless birth was effected, there was no pain. The doctor declared that he had seen a miracle, and I felt so well and happy that I was up and dressed the next day.
As our understanding of Principle grows, more order is brought out in our affairs, a better sense of health is established, and a peace of mind that truly passes all understanding becomes our daily experience.— Kansas City, Missouri.
