How wonderful are the words "gratitude" and "grateful"! Christian Scientists use them sincerely and continually to express thankfulness for this practical religion.
One of the requirements for membership in The Mother Church and a branch church is that the applicant be free of the use of tobacco. My desire for membership was so sincere that I was quickly healed of the cigarette habit. This was accomplished through the prayers of a Christian Science practitioner, and thus paved the way for the great spiritual step of Mother Church membership in 1949.
For many years I had been plagued with chronic sick headaches, and for a long time I tried to pinpoint the cause, but to no avail. As I progressed in my understanding of God—His love for His idea, man, and His will for harmony in His beloved child—I gradually saw that God was the only cause and that therefore I could not be subject to an effect other than God's. I was subject only to "the divine 'powers that be.'" Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 249), "Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine 'powers that be.'" And such was the case.
