I wish to express my gratitude for having had a home where Christian Science was a way of life even before I was born. My first expression of thanks is for my parents. They earnestly studied the weekly Bible Lesson found in the Christian Science Quarterly, attended the Sunday services and Wednesday testimony meetings at a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, and actively served that church in many ways. In my youth I had few of the so-called childhood diseases, and each instance of illness was met almost immediately.
When I was about sixteen, I helped my father paint the outside of our house during very hot weather. At that time my skin broke out with an infection that covered my entire face. I looked terrible! When Wednesday afternoon came, I requested to stay home from church that night. My dad agreed, saying that the entire family would stay home. But I felt that this was not right, for I had seen other members of the family attend church while suffering from illness and injury. In each case that family member, who had been motivated by prayer to attend church, had returned home afterward completely healed. Still, not one of them had gone to church looking as bad as I did then!
About an hour before it was time to leave for church, I asked that the family go without me. I was reminded that each church service and testimony meeting is for healing, but that if I felt I would get more good from staying home, then that was right for me, for we always plan to be where we think we will get the most good. With the promise that I could sit in the balcony, I went to church. And I was very inspired by the readings from the desk and the testimonies of healing. I felt especially grateful for Christian Science, which teaches us that God is ever present and all-powerful.
