As a child I had a great fear of God because I had been led to believe that He sent evil as a punishment for our sins. When I was twenty a sister came home from a distant city bringing the first word I had ever had of Christian Science. She had several books which, together with the Bible, she read every day.
One night I picked up her copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and began to examine the contents skeptically. Then I began at page 1 and started to read. They were the first words I had ever read about prayer to a kind and loving Father who did not will any evil. On and on I read, noting particularly these words on page 14: "Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,— neither in nor of matter,—and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well."
I must have reached this sublime state of consciousness, for suddenly I found I was no longer afraid of God. I had discovered the Christian Science God — a good, kind, loving Father, who would not give His child a stone when he needed and asked for bread. This was my first healing in Christian Science, although it was many years before I recognized it as such.
