When I was eight my mother became interested in Christian Science through a friend who invited her to attend a Wednesday testimony meeting. I remember my mother's telling her friend of being discouraged in her present church and of her insufficient understanding of God. On the strength of this statement the friend extended the invitation, which my mother accepted. She was impressed by what she heard of the healings and wanted to know about the textbook by Mrs. Eddy. Her friend loaned her an extra copy which she had, and through reading the textbook, my mother was healed of a stomach condition she had had for seventeen years. There had been little food she could enjoy eating, and she had spent many hours in discomfort after eating. She knew somehow that she was healed and from then on ate whatsoever she desired without ill effect.
She was not aware of just how she had been healed; so she made a further study of the textbook and began attending the Christian Science church services. I was placed in the Sunday School and continued attending until I reached twenty years of age. I married and moved to a small town where there was no Christian Science church and before long was not studying it or reading the literature. This resulted in my not relying on Science entirely. We moved back to our home city, and I began to attend church services again, but it was not until I had a specific need that I began to study earnestly and apply what I had learned.
There was no physical difficulty, but I was disturbed mentally, and the disturbance was reflected in my home environment. It was then that the firm conviction that Christian Science was my only salvation came to me. I was led to make an appointment with a practitioner who had been healed of practically the same condition. It was her very first healing. This gave me much encouragement. As I was leaving, she made this remark: "Feel free to call me at any time, not necessarily for treatment, but because you may feel the need to talk to someone." That was my human need. I no longer felt in the dark; and I took advantage of her invitation several times, but it was not long until this became unnecessary.
