I should like to tell of how Christian Science helped me as a college student, and I hope that it may be helpful to others who are students. Before I knew anything about this religion, I had taken a college intelligence test, and I had been informed that the results of the examination indicated that I would never be more than an average, or C, student. Not knowing a better way of thinking, I had accepted this statement as final, and for several years regarded myself as having only limited academic ability.
Later, I started graduate work on a master's degree, not realizing at the time of enrollment that only the grades A and B were acceptable for graduate credit. When I did learn of this, I was filled with despair, for I was convinced that I did not have the capacity to earn high grades. Examination days were especially terrifying to me, and yet I did not want to give up.
It was then that a friend spoke to me of Christian Science and lent me her copy of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. I had read only a few pages in the first chapter, entitled "Prayer," when I realized that here was a satisfying concept of God, one that I had been searching for. Not long afterward, I learned that Mind is one of the synonyms of God, and it became clear to me that God's children reflect the qualities of their heavenly Father.
The realization that intelligence is unlimited and available to all and is not the personal possession of a favored few gave me the courage to repudiate the former verdict of limitation and to free my thought to accept my true birthright of intelligence and ability from God. Not only my grades improved as a result of my new study, but also my disposition changed so noticeably that others remarked about it. Fear, aloofness, criticism, disorderliness, and other unlovely traits dropped away, and I became a much happier and better adjusted person.
Before my graduate work was completed, financial difficulties arose; but I turned to God for guidance, and realized that my true employment was witnessing to and expressing God's qualities. The opportunity which opened for me did not look too promising, but I accepted it, trusting Mind for support. I was asked to teach a typing class, but I had received no special training in this field other than a high school course in typing, and I could hardly remember the keyboard. Still, I felt that God had led me to this position and that Mind's inexhaustible resources were available.
The group of students assigned to my class were regarded by the other teachers as unusually slow and difficult to teach, but I thought of them as in reality God's children, and we all learned together. By the end of the term they were typing with average speed and accuracy for their grade. Typing skill became valuable for me too, for now I could type my own seminar papers; whereas formerly I had hired this work done.
Although my time was now very full, doing college work and teaching at the same time, I was free from depressing thoughts of inability and no longer dreaded taking examinations. I finished my courses with the required grades, including a lengthy thesis and an oral examination over all my graduate courses, and I was elected to membership in a national honor society.
My heart is filled with gratitude for a religion that is so satisfying and practical and that never fails to help in every need. I have turned to it for healing, for help in finding employment, home, and lost articles, for solving legal problems, and for guidance in small and large affairs. I am grateful for the opportunities for service in church membership and for the privilege of class instruction.— Albuquerque, New Mexico.
