It is a great privilege to comply with the Bible injunction (Ps. 107:2), "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."
Before I was married I was employed in a large insurance company. The section head of the department in which I worked was a Christian Scientist who let her light shine in her deeds and bearing; and I wanted to be like her.
About this time my health began to fail, and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. An older worker in the office who had been healed of blindness a few years before through the application of Christian Science saw my distress and lovingly recommended that I borrow from the company's library the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. From the time I first saw Mrs. Eddy's writings I became an avid student, reading Christian Science literature almost exclusively for the next few years.
One of the earliest lessons I learned was that each of God's ideas is individually distinctive, although all emanate from the same Principle and source. This was a necessary lesson and resulted in a degree of dignity and freedom from the fear of the opinions of others. The realization that I was in reality of equal value and importance to all others in the Father's sight helped to heal a sense of self-depreciation and inadequacy.
A priceless experience was that of joining a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. As a large family unit we were closely associated with a Protestant church, and I was the first one to become a student of Christian Science. During ten years of study the value and importance of active membership in a Church of Christ, Scientist, had deepened, but mortal mind presented many reasons why I should defer taking this step. It was easy to rationalize to the satisfaction of others, but deep within me I knew I was clinging to family ties and tradition.
In the interim our older son kept getting periodic fevers. Relief was obtained through the help of a Christian Science practitioner, but the fevers kept recurring almost monthly. I knew that fever is a manifestation of fear, and one day while I was praying very earnestly to have the error uncovered that was victimizing this little four-year-old, the thought came to me, "You must join the church."
Instantly I attempted to rationalize and enumerate the many reasons why this did not seem feasible. But I knew I was only hiding behind these excuses, and if I took the first step in that direction, the Father would open the way. And so it proved. Mentally and morally, I stepped into a new world of freedom and gratifying activity, and I knew the reason for the hope that was within me.
This was the end of the fevers and the beginning of years of joyous service in a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. One by one, members of the family as well as friends turned to Christian Science for healing, physically and financially, and some became active workers in the church.
My small but precious understanding of Christian Science supported my confidence and assurance of God's loving omnipresence during my husband's enlistment in the First World War. Years later, our two sons were called into service in the Second World War. Just about that time, we had an election of Readers in our church. When my name was proposed, the suggestion came that I had better withdraw my name.
Immediately, the answer came, "I cannot afford to admit or to acknowledge the presence of error in any degree, in any place, in any form." It was so clear to me that if I failed to depend on God in one instance, I would fail in other instances. Both sons went through active combat in military service and returned unharmed during the period in which I served as Second Reader.
I am thankful for the strengthening experience of class instruction and for our yearly association meetings, as well as for the Christian Science periodicals, the lectures, and the many other activities of The Mother Church. Words cannot express my gratitude to our Father-Mother God, for our Way-shower, Christ Jesus, and for our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy, through whose loving toil we are blessed with Christian Science.— South Ashfield, Massachusetts.
