I estimate that I have heard over ten thousand testimonies of spiritual healing during the nearly forty years I've been attending Wednesday evening meetings in Christian Science churches. Add to this the featured accounts of healing I've read in the Christian Science periodicals during that time, and I've heard a considerable body of evidence as to the healing power of divine Science. However, nothing quite carries the weight of conviction that comes from seeing this Science demonstrated in one's own life. Mrs. Eddy writes in the Preface to Science and Health (p. x), "The divine Principle of healing is proved in the personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth."
As a young child I attended a Protestant Sunday School and learned some Bible narratives. I was a fearful child and had a severe inferiority complex. When I was seven, my parents found Christian Science, and I became a pupil in the Sunday School. Here, the teacher went further than just recounting scriptural facts. She explained the spiritual significance, which made the Bible relevant to my daily life.
When my teacher told us about David and Goliath one Sunday, she said, "Your fears are your giants. You kill them with an understanding of God." We also learned the answer Mrs. Eddy gives to the question "What is God?" (Science and Health, p. 465): "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." The teacher stressed the fact that God is everywhere. I began to use this new understanding of God that evening when I "killed my first giant"—fear of the dark.
