There were many factors which drew my husband and me to Christian Science. One was our daughter's early interest in this Science. When she was a small child, she visited a Christian Science Sunday School and, after that, went every time she was permitted. Her father and I soon saw the good results. She loved Christian Science, and it has been her way of life since she was a small child.
At a certain season of the year I used to have asthma very badly. When I was accepted for class instruction in Christian Science, I found it was to be given at the time of year that I usually suffered the most. The class was to be held a few blocks from the ocean, and I believed I could not exist near the ocean. In spite of this, I felt I should be in that class.
During class I never thought of my breathing. As the days of instruction proceeded, I found I must reverse some of my thoughts. Two things were: seeing imperfect man and unjustly criticizing myself.
After class I strove to see the perfect man of God's creating and not to criticize. As a result, I found the asthma was less severe. Then came a period when I was Second Reader for three years. I gave most of my time to study of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly. After that the healing of asthma was complete. That was sixteen years ago. I find the more I see the perfect man in my brother man, the more I can like myself.
There was a time when many ailments seemed to fasten themselves to me. When I exerted myself the least bit, my heart would beat abnormally fast. I believed I had serious lung disease. Other illnesses plagued me. I was having daily treatment from a Christian Science practitioner, and in spite of the physical discomfort, I was living a beautiful life as the result of the spiritual regeneration that was taking place. Later I had to have a physical examination for something I wanted to do, and the lungs were pronounced sound and the heart normal.
I have seen wonderful healings with my family. When my son was in the Army, he was hospitalized with measles. He opened the Bible to the ninety-first Psalm and understood the truths of that psalm as never before. The doctor asked him what he was doing in the hospital and dismissed him then and there. When he was a small boy, he came to me in the middle of the night and said he had a stomachache. His body was tense. I told him to pray the Lord's Prayer with me, and after one sentence he was asleep, completely relaxed. He was healed of malaria in three days through Christian Science help.
At one period my husband had gone back to work after an illness. When he got home in the evening, he would go to bed, as he was not strong. I read to him from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. After a short while he would begin to stir and soon would say he was hungry. Then he would put in a normal evening. One evening he didn't rally. There was work that had to be done in the basement, and he told me to do it but to come right back to him. I had scarcely begun when the dog began to bark in a peculiar way. I found her barking right into my husband's face. He was unconscious and there were unmistakable signs of his passing on.
A Christian Science practitioner told me to call him by name and to say with understanding, "God is your Life." I did this with growing conviction for about three hours, at which point he closed his eyes and dropped into a peaceful sleep. When he awoke, he was normal. The next morning he was up at his regular time and ready to go to work. As far as he was concerned, nothing unusual had happened the night before. He regained his health.
For these and other healings I am truly grateful. My life has been enriched by class instruction and service in a branch church.
San Jose, California
