Christian Science was introduced to me by my stepmother when I was about ten years old. My first impression was that it was a religion of love, and that it showed that God was indeed a God at hand. I had been brought up in religious surroundings, attending a place of worship three times on Sundays. However, I had mistakenly understood that God was in a distant place called heaven, and that we would only see Him when we died, provided we lived a good life while on earth. So later it gave me great joy to learn, through the teachings of Christian Science, that I could never be separated from God's presence, nor from the good He imparts. It made sense.
When I was twelve years old, we were moving to another home, and I was assisting in burning some rubbish, when a strong breeze blew some hot molten rubber onto my hand, severely burning it. Instead of turning to Christian Science for help, I allowed myself to be influenced by a well-meaning relative to resort to medical means to heal the hand. Such treatment was administered for a period of about three months, during which time there was no improvement. I began to feel very depressed, and the hand gave me a great deal of pain and inconvenience during my schooling. In addition to having pain, I was compelled to wear heavy bandages to protect the wounds.
I well remember one day being really fed up with it all, and I asked my stepmother whether she thought Christian Science could heal my hand. During the period of medical treatment she had not voiced any criticism or suggested that I seek Christian Science treatment. She asked me whether I was willing to try Christian Science. I replied that I was indeed most willing, so anxious was I to be rid of the pain and suffering. We immediately telephoned a Christian Science practitioner, who assured me that there was no need for the suffering to continue, and in a simple way explained that I was God's perfect child without blemish. I can remember I felt as though a weight had been lifted from me.
