Christian Science came to me as a direct answer to prayer. I had always loved the Bible and was eager to learn more of God; but as I grew into my teens, I became dissatisfied and critical of the religious training I had received. My many questions had not been answered. I could not reconcile myself to the thought that God, who is Love, could have anything to do with the unhappiness, cruelty, poverty, and destruction which were only too evident in human experience. Eventually I ceased attending church services, put away my Bible, and tried to stop praying.
During this dark period, however, a passage from the Bible was constantly in my thought. It reads, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). I prayed to know the meaning of this. In due course I was led to read the Christian Science textbook, and I soon realized that this, indeed, is the Comforter which had been promised.
I was so absorbed in the wonderful truths contained in this book that I did not realize that any physical healing was taking place. However, my parents, who were not interested in Christian Science, drew my attention to the complete disappearance of a goiter which had defied medical treatment and for which an operation was said to be the only remedy. At the same time I was healed of the painful effects of an injury caused at birth and of chronic catarrh, which I had endured since childhood. These healings took place in a period of about ten days after I had commenced to read the textbook, and they have been permanent.
