From my earliest years I attended the Christian Science Sunday School and loved deeply the spiritual truths taught me by my teachers and parents. During my teen years, healings of hives, warts, trench mouth, sties, tonsillitis, acne, and sports injuries propelled me to read the Bible and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy.
While in college I attended a Biennial College Meeting at The Mother Church. I remember being amazed at the dedication and understanding expressed by the other students who attended. One night while at the meeting I severely injured my eyes, which left me totally unable to see. A Christian Science practitioner was called, and friends stayed with me through the night. Many truths of God and man were shared, hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal were sung, and a deep feeling of confidence in God's healing presence prevailed. I realized that my view of others was very judgmental and saw the need for more genuine Christliness in my motivations. I humbly called the practitioner and defined what I was now discerning as the root of the problem. By the next morning, all evidences of the injury had disappeared, and my eyes functioned normally. But I knew that I must put into practice the truth I was learning to love.
Two years later, in 1965, I began a term of service with the American Peace Corps in a crowded Asian city. The challenges seemed overwhelming, so every free hour was spent studying the daily Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly and reading the Christian Science periodicals. I often pondered this statement (Science and Health, p. 14): "Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth."
