When my mother was expecting me, a neighbor offered to take my brother to Sunday School every Sunday. My mother gratefully accepted this offer. It was a Christian Science Sunday School, and my brother loved it so much that after I was born, my mother began to attend the Christian Science church regularly. As a result I have never known any other religion.
This Science has been my only help when sickness or discord has attempted to disrupt the harmony of my experience. At one time when I was about four years old and was so ill that I appeared to be passing on, a dear friend of the family, also a student of Christian Science, visited us. Seeing my mother's great fear, he spent about half an hour with her, speaking to her of God's love for His children and assuring her that God was taking care of me. At the end of the half-hour I stood up in my crib and asked for chocolate candy. I was completely healed.
Another time, I was helping my brother to cut a pumpkin off a vine in our back yard when the knife slipped and slashed my finger deeply. Immediately I declared that there can be no accidents in divine Mind and that man, who is actually the expression of God, cannot therefore experience one. There was no pain; but the finger bled a great deal, so it was necessary for me to bandage it. In a few days there remained only a small white line where the knife had first entered. This healing has stood out to me through the years, because I felt no pain at any stage of the experience.
By the time I had reached my teens, the love of Christian Science and the desire to live in accord with its teachings were so firmly implanted in me that I was never tempted to try smoking or drinking in order to be one of the crowd.
Later on, a personal experience which to mortal sense seemed heartbreaking was turned into a joyous one when I refused to become bitter, resentful, or self-righteous. I searched the Bible and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy for guidance, and one of the first passages I opened to in the textbook was this on page 265: "Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love." This certainly applied to me. I quickly agreed with our Leader's following statements: "The loss of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual."
The good gained and the progress made during my study of the textbook and of Mrs. Eddy's other writings at this time are beyond measure. I found a peace I had never felt before. The spiritual sense of joy that came and the realization that man can never be separated from God, good, lifted me out of all depression. The change and freedom in my thinking made such an improvement in me outwardly that three days after the experience my co-workers hardly recognized me.
Because of this experience a deep desire for class instruction welled up in me, and the unfolding of it was harmonious and complete. I was accepted by the teacher to whom I applied, and the time spent in class was the most joyous and uplifting I have ever experienced.
My gratitude and love for Christian Science are boundless. For membership in The Mother Church, for the opportunity to be of service in a branch church, and especially for class instruction, I am unceasingly grateful.— Cleveland, Ohio.
