With a humble heart I want to express my gratitude for Christian Science, this great religion that makes the allness and omnipotence of God so real to us and makes divine Love comprehensible to humanity.
Christian Science came into my life in 1936, and I had the readiness to accept it. I had believed in a God but did not know that He is absolute good, and that right now we all "live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28) in Him. Such a joy took hold of me that I would have loved to shout to every passerby on the street: "Take up Christian Science!" I recognized that I first had to live and prove it.
I regularly attended the Church of Christ, Scientist, always with the thought, "Father, what do You have to tell me today?" I listened with close attention to the words from the Bible, read every Sunday (I John 3:2, 3): "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." These last words, especially, "purifieth himself, even as he is pure," healed my body of an unnatural secretion, a condition that had troubled me for some time.
Through the study of the Bible and the textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, I have learned that "with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26) and have proved it.
I was supporting my son, who was a schoolboy at that time. As a saleswoman my earnings were not sufficient, so I decided to take a temporary job, which was to last no more than three weeks. When that work ended I sat in church on Wednesday; we sang Hymn No. 47 from the Christian Science Hymnal. The first verse reads:
Day by day the manna fell:
O, to learn this lesson well.
Still by constant mercy fed,
Give me, Lord, my daily bread.
I held fast to the truth that God, Mind, is the source of our supply. I was employed by a firm for four years. I had plenty at a time when things were in short supply, so that I was able to help others to a modest degree. During those four years divine Love was always near and taught me many lessons of love.
Later I opened a shop with a friend. There was a lot of work but little success. I accepted my worries as realities and let self-pity and indignation enter in. Then one evening I noticed symptoms of sciatica. I knew that God does not forsake us. It is the intent of Love to enlighten us. The next day found me in bed. My friend had gone to the shop by herself.
When the time approached for her to come home, the thought came to me: "Now, she surely has the right to come home to a set table. Get up and prepare dinner." I was able to get up, though I was in some pain. The pain disappeared as it became clear to me that as the spiritual idea of God I never had had a disability. This was on a Wednesday. In one hour I was at the evening testimony meeting at a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, fresh and free, and gave my testimony with joy, and the next day I ushered at a Christian Science lecture.
I have recognized that the sole obstruction to our living in the continuous light of the Christ is a false sense of self—self-commiseration, self-glory, self-pity, self-justification. Humility alone lets us be a transparency. All the good we accomplish is to glorify God, who without interruption expresses His love through man and His entire creation.
I give thanks for the loving Master, Christ Jesus, and for every heart which takes its impulse from God and acts in accordance with the Mind that was in Christ Jesus. I am grateful for our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, and her devoted work, and for The Mother Church.
Remscheid, Federal Republic of Germany
