Before his marriage my father took up the study of Christian Science after being healed through it of a ruptured appendix. My mother also started studying it after my brother was healed of an illness that appeared so serious at one point that she feared he was passing on.
It was through my father's understanding that I was healed during an influenza epidemic. While undressing for bed one evening, I became so weak that I lost consciousness and stopped breathing. My father sat prayerfully by my side, telling me later that in ten minutes I sat up again, talked to him, and was soon on my way to bed with no further need of assistance.
I am grateful beyond measure for having been reared by Christian Science parents and having been taught the truths of Science in the Sunday School. I can only begin to tell here of the many, many ways in which it has blessed my experience.
Through applying it in schoolwork, I received high scholastic ratings. My sisters, my brother, and I were remarkably free from so-called children's diseases and were quickly lifted out of an experience of scarlet fever. Supply to attend college was beautifully provided for all four of us during the depression years of the 30's without any financial assistance from our parents. Reliance on God, divine Principle, freed me from temptation to smoke or drink. Acknowledging divine Mind's guidance led me into a rewarding occupation after college and eventually to a happy marriage.
Although my husband is not yet a student of Christian Science, we have felt the guidance of divine Love through many progressive steps in his occupation and provisions for home; and I have been grateful for his willingness to let me rear our three lovely children in Christian Science.
They too are finding many opportunities to use the truths they are learning; and among the healings they have experienced have been those of allergies, chronic skin trouble, tonsillitis, earache while swimming, bronchitis, injuries, including those received in a fall from a horse, and beestings. Quick freedom from so-called children's diseases was gained.
About fifteen years ago I went through a testing time with a painful hip condition that almost incapacitated me for a while and made it impossible for me to sleep. With the help of a practitioner, I gained relief but not complete freedom. However, instead of digging in for the understanding that would completely heal the situation, I let apathy and busyness with material living satisfy me with only a relieved condition.
Less than a year later it became aggravated even more seriously than formerly, and I was compelled to struggle for the mental progress needed to complete the healing. Lack of sleep again made the nights almost unbearable, but the hymns in our Christian Science Hymnal and the untiring help of the practitioner, who was always ready to comfort me any hour of the night, sustained me through about ten nights of practically no sleep. One of the many evidences of Love's care that appeared remarkable at the time was the feeling of refreshment each morning as though I had experienced a good night's sleep.
One of the evidences of progress that I gained from this experience was the conviction that Christian Science is really the truth and that I could never give it up, whether or not I was able to demonstrate its healing power in this instance. The healing did come, and with no lingering aftereffects.
Although occasionally within the next couple of years there were subtle suggestions in the form of memory of the incident and fear of its return, I learned to handle these suggestions by declaring, "I am healed," and knowing in the words of Nahum (1:9), "Affliction shall not rise up the second time." Also helpful were these words from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy (p. 74): "In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown." After a while these suggestions stopped coming, and I recall the experience no more except as I express gratitude for it or help someone by giving a testimony.
Truly Christian Science is the pearl of great price. We can never be grateful enough for our Master, Christ Jesus, and for the unselfish dedication of our Leader which enabled her to give us the textbook and establish the movement that is blessing the whole world with its healing mission. For membership in The Mother Church and a branch church, for all our fine periodicals, and for the enriching experience of class instruction, I am deeply grateful.— Lake Oswego, Oregon.
