I should like to try to put into words my heartfelt gratitude for the Father's tender and ever-present care. From early childhood, I had the privilege of attending a Christian Science Sunday School. When I reached college age, however, I became very dissatisfied with my studies. Nothing interested me, and I became very much discouraged. At this point, I began to drift away from the truths which I had been taught in the Sunday School and was lured into the habits of smoking and social drinking.
After struggling for two years to find myself, I decided that I might as well leave college, for it was doing me no good. Thinking that the military service might help me find a career, I joined the Air Force. However, nothing that the service offered appealed to me. It looked as though the situation was hopeless, and I resigned myself to what I thought was going to be a life of uncertainty.
As a result of this attitude the smoking and drinking habits became worse and worse. Other bad habits were beginning to establish a hold upon me also. I did not seem to be the same person who was reared in a Christian Science family. Suggestions had persuaded me that what I had learned in Sunday School might be all right for others, but that I could not be helped in Science, and so I might as well forget about it. Many times during this dark period a still small voice whispered the healing truth to me and adjusted situations which to mortal sense might have been seriously harmful to me. Also I made rapid advancement in the Air Force. However, I did not recognize the source of my protection and welfare, but attributed the advancement to good luck.
Finally I began to realize that I had strayed from the straight and narrow way of Truth and that I needed to take inventory of my thinking and acting. My desire for alcoholic beverages began to diminish, and I began asking myself why I drank at all. Soon I did not even enjoy the taste of liquor, and it became an effort to accompany other soldiers into a bar. When I realized that as the image of God my real selfhood was grand, noble, and pure, I was healed of drinking.
After completing my enlistment in the Air Force, I returned to civilian life and completed my education. Upon finishing college, I found immediate employment, but was laid off a year later because business was bad. Fear, worry, and discouragement crept into my thoughts. I could not see that all I needed to do was to turn to the Father for help and to let His will be done. For three months I was out of a job, and I was just about at the end of my rope when the thought came to me, "Well, you've tried everything else, now you need God."
My copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy was near at hand, and I opened it to these comforting words (pp. 12, 13): "In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as 'a very present help in trouble.' Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.'" This truth was exactly what I needed, and I studied it until I began to see how it applied to me. It seemed to say, "Wake up, wake up!"
I began to study the Bible and Science and Health with a desire to know God better. Shortly after this, I was led to seek the help of a family friend who was a consecrated Christian Science practitioner of long standing. I spent many wonderful hours with her, and as a result of her clear understanding and loving help, I was instantaneously healed of the desire to smoke.
Two days later an excellent position was offered to me. With this position came the opportunity to train for a career, and I found that I actually loved my work. A wonderful sense of peace came to me, and for the first time in my life I felt secure. Since that awakening, I have made wonderful progress in my career and now have a business of my own.
Christian Science has healed me of a serious ear infection, a dislocated hip joint, sinus trouble, and other discordant conditions. I am very grateful to be a member of The Mother Church and a branch church and to have had class instruction. Our religion has taught me that God governs the whole universe and that it is God's business to maintain that universe. It is our business to know that He does govern and maintain it, to listen quietly for His instructions, to act upon them, and then to wait patiently for the glory of God to manifest itself.
Dallas, Texas
