My mother became interested in Christian Science before I was born, and first demonstrated its healing truths when she was freed from arthritis. Because she was a concert pianist, arthritis seemed an especially heartbreaking claim. But shortly after requesting help from a Christian Science practitioner, Mother was able once again to sit down at her piano and play with ease.
When I was a little girl, while we were living in London, an epidemic of diphtheria broke out in the school I was attending. I became very ill, manifesting symptoms of the disease. As it was the law, a doctor was called in to examine me. He did and confirmed the symptoms as diphtheria. By then I could not even swallow water. The doctor gravely told my mother that he did not expect me to live through the night.
As soon as he had gone, Mother called a Christian Science practitioner. This woman lovingly quieted her fears, and asked her to remember Mrs. Eddy's words from the textbook (Science and Health, p. 468): "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." In addition to considering these truths from "the scientific statement of being," the practitioner also said that as God's child, I was His reflection and therefore was perfect. This, she said, meant that I could be left in the care of a loving Father-Mother God.
