I did not find out about Christian Science through the Sunday School or the church service, nor had I ever been inside a Reading Room or read any of the Christian Science periodicals.
At the time I found Christian Science I was in a hospital because of poor health that resulted from drinking and smoking excessively; I couldn't stand or walk alone. One night I prayed to God for help in the best way I knew how, and just as clear as day the words "Christian Science" came to my consciousness.
The next morning I was taken in a wheelchair to an annex of the hospital where I was allowed to wheel around in the day room with the other patients. While I was looking through the magazines and books provided for us, there— standing out like a beacon—was a copy of The Christian Science Journal. I grabbed it, and as I read, tears of gratitude so overwhelmed me that I could hardly see. I kept that copy and read it day and night.
Then one day I was told I had a visitor. It was my sister from five hundred miles away. I didn't even know she was coming! Divine Love, God, was certainly leading the way. I asked her to contact one of the Christian Science practitioners listed in the back of the Journal. The one she called came to visit me right away, and through her help I began to see my real, spiritual nature. She showed me how to study the Bible Lessons found in the Christian Science Quarterly and presented me with my first Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
The progress that resulted from this study led me to continue lifting my thinking to a higher, more spiritual sense of existence as demonstrated by our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus. I was healed of the smoking and drinking habits and before long regained the normal use of my legs.
The thing uppermost in thought for me is to thank God for the angel message that urged me to seek out Christian Science in a time of great need. The Christian Science Journal will always be special to me because through it I was led out of the darkness into the spiritual light, which enables me to see myself and others as God made us—in His perfect image and likeness.
This is my first testimony. I have written it many times, but I never had the courage to mail it until now. I am so overcome with gratitude, I just can't keep it to myself any longer.
Chicago, Illinois
