I first witnessed the healing effects of Christian Science when, as a little girl, I was stricken with a severe illness. Through the prayers of my family and a dedicated Christian Science practitioner, I was back on the school playground with my friends in just two weeks time. I remember feeling very confident that my Father-Mother God loved me and would not let His child be sick (I had been taught this in the Christian Science Sunday School). When I think back on the experience, I am reminded of the power a simple childlike trust in God's love has in consummating a healing.
While growing up, however, I lost sight of this vision and manifested traits of severe nervousness and deep moods of depression. I found it difficult to concentrate or to focus on what I was doing. Some days, while on my way to an appointment, I would forget whom I was to see and where I was going. During that time I also developed feelings of self-contempt and wanted to be anyone else in the world but who I was.
At one particularly unhappy point, I turned earnestly to God in prayer. Then I read this sentence in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy (p. 68): "We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood." I sat quietly and pondered this statement for some time. Though I understood little of what I'd read, I did feel that God was speaking to me, and I wanted to be obedient. I decided to follow the command—to let go of the mental baggage pulling me down and to cherish my true selfhood as a beloved daughter of God.
