As the oldest of six children raised in a Christian Science home by a devoted mother who guided our thoughts and footsteps in the truth and emphasized the importance of turning to God for a solution to all our problems, I experienced and witnessed many remarkable healings.
The healing of double pneumonia occurred while I was a young child. I had missed a great deal of time from school because of this condition, and to satisfy school authorities, a doctor was called to diagnose the difficulty. I rebelled at having the medical examination and cried so much that I had great difficulty breathing. After the doctor left. I asked my mother to sing the hymn that begins, "Come, ye disconsolate" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 40). Mother sang it over and over again. Then I asked her to please leave the room and close the door because I wanted to be alone with God. I knew I was in His tender, loving care, and I fell asleep. When I awakened, I was healed. There was no convalescence. I was suddenly well.
When our oldest son was a kindergarten pupil, his hands were covered with warts. One morning as he was washing before going to school, he cried because they pained him so. He said no one would even hold his hands in class because of his "bumps." Pity tried to creep into my thinking, but I knew this would do no good and would impress on him the possibility that he had something that he ought not to have. So silently to myself and then aloud to him I declared, "The only growth there is is growth in grace." Mrs. Eddy states on page 4 of Science and Health, "What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds."
