I am very grateful to have been raised in a Christian Science Sunday School and to have had the opportunity to attend the International Youth Meeting in Boston in 1974 when in my teens. It was at that meeting that I really decided to make Christian Science my way of life. I shall always remember the wonderful feeling of being among so many other young people from every corner of the world, all united with the same priorities and values.
Three days after the birth of my first child, and while the baby and I were still in the care of the hospital where she had been born, it was diagnosed that the baby had an abnormality of the heart. My husband and I were asked to make several hospital appointments after our release so that the situation could be carefully monitored to see if an operation would be necessary. A Christian Science practitioner, my husband, and I prayed to understand the completeness and perfection of the child as, in truth, the spiritual likeness of God. We decided to decline the hospital visits and medical treatment and to rely on Christian Science for healing.
I recall one morning when the child was about six months old and I was playing with her on the floor. I was so thrilled by her obvious delight and pleasure in our games, by her big smiles and deep chuckles of laughter, that I suddenly saw very clearly that the medical observations regarding her condition were absolutely not true about this child, whose real nature is the spiritual idea of God. At the same time, the definition of man in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy flooded my thought. I pondered especially these words (p. 591): "The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God." I also thought of the description of man found on page 475, which includes this sentence: "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique."
