Christian Science has been to me the deep-drawn breath that Mrs. Eddy speaks of in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany when she says (p. 195), "Christian Science is at length learned to be no miserable piece of ideal legerdemain, by which we poor mortals expect to live and die, but a deep-drawn breath fresh from God, by whom and in whom man lives, moves, and has deathless being."
From early childhood I had been victimized by the belief of sensitivity to my surroundings. I had hay fever, asthma, running ears, skin irritations, and other problems medically related to allergy. Before I tired of all this and reached out for Christian Science, I had been found to be sensitive to all but three of the hundreds of substances applied to my back and arms at the allergy clinic of a large and well-known midwestern university. I seemed to be overwhelmed by physical problems, diagnosed and undiagnosed. Two troublesome problems, thyroid deficiency and anemia, had been declared incurable. Dependency upon medication for energy and strength was, to my thought, like being condemned to prison. My disposition was far from pleasant. I didn't know which had appeared first, the bad disposition or the physical problems.
Christian Science came to me when I most needed it. The Bible Lesson and the reading of the textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, gave me courage to stop all medication. The physical problems just disappeared. My disposition became somewhat better. I had reached a first plateau in my study of Christian Science. I joined The Mother Church and a branch church.
