My mother passed on when I was a baby, and my father placed me in the home of friends who were consecrated Christian Scientists. I attended an orthodox Sunday School of my father's faith, but many of the fundamental truths voiced by these Scientists at home left an indelible impression on my consciousness and became a guiding light in later years when I needed them.
Each year I had rounds of pneumonia, pleurisy, sinus trouble, and rheumatism. Intermittently I would have treatment from a doctor and a Christian Science practitioner, having little faith in the doctor and little understanding of Science. Finally the doctors at a leading clinic recommended that I spend eighteen hours a day in bed. When this measure provided no relief, I was sent to a dry climate thousands of miles away. After I returned home, the slight improvement I had made was lost, and the specialists said that only by having the two lower lobes of my lungs removed would I have any hope of recovery. If this operation were not performed, they said, I could live for only a few more months.
It was at this point that a dear friend insisted that I visit a practitioner who had recently moved to our small town from a large city. I shall never forget my preparation to have this interview. I had no thought of getting well; my only thought was to be prepared to meet God. I sat down at my desk and made a list of all my weaknesses, both physical and moral. I counted them—there were twenty-three. Discouraged and fearful I slipped the list back into a pigeonhole, closed the desk, and went to the practitioner.
Discouragement and fear left when I looked into her loving face and said, "I want to know about God." I heard about Him in a way I had never dreamed of. She read to me the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation, given by Mary Baker Eddy on pages 16 and 17 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." The interpretation of the opening words of the prayer is, "Our Father-Mother God, all- harmonious." I kept thinking, "I have found my Mother."
I became aware of a great sense of God's mother love and realized that my human mother was in reality one of His children too, a living idea in divine Mind. Joy filled my consciousness. I went home, took the textbook, Science and Health, and read it eagerly all night. During the following weeks I spent most of my time studying and praying, forgetting my body altogether.
A couple of months later when I was tidying my desk, I found the list I had made of my weaknesses. I found myself free from every one. Some of the things listed were: abscessed lungs, sciatic rheumatism, anemia, inflamed nerves, sinus trouble, pyorrhea, smoking, social drinking, and gambling. These healings took place many years ago and have been permanent. The doctor who had attended me before I turned completely to Science often remarked that I was "the walking miracle of our town." At his insistence I returned to the sanatorium, and X-ray photographs were taken of my lungs. They showed that the healing had taken place.
When we received word that our only son, an officer in the Marine Corps, was missing in Korea, and later when we learned that he would not be returning, I am grateful to be able to say that I felt no grief. I had no sense of loss at all. Science had taught me my mother's true identity as a child of God, and I knew that our son is a living idea in divine Mind also. I never think of him without remembering some joyous occasion that we shared.
I am very grateful to God for Christ Jesus and for our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, who have brought me joy in my quest for eternal Life. — , Santa Monica, California.
