For students of Christian Science, one of the difficulties in writing a testimony may be deciding just which healings to share! I am grateful for my parents' dedication to Science and for the healings I witnessed in their lives. And I could tell of rapid healings of childhood diseases and of the resolution through prayer of health, relationship, and career problems encountered as a young adult. However, I'm choosing to write about several healings that occurred during the past four years. All these healings were related, I feel, to a deeper commitment to Christian Science.
During this period I was elected First Reader of my branch Church of Christ, Scientist. I had withdrawn my name from nomination during previous elections because the time commitment seemed overwhelming. At this election I decided to leave my name in nomination; but when I was elected, the three years of pre-booked Sundays and Wednesdays (not to mention practice sessions) still seemed challenging! I did recognize, though, that the feeling of burden sometimes associated with church work is largely the result of the belief in personal abilities and limitations (talent, financial resources, time, and so forth) and the illusion of a human ego more self-centered than selfless in its interests.
Not long after the election I fainted while leaving a theatrical performance. A friend who was with me, a Christian Scientist, prayed silently in my support. I was unconscious for only a few seconds, but I was somewhat embarrassed and, since it happened without warning, alarmed. I called a Christian Science practitioner and expressed my concern that this might happen when I was reading. The practitioner calmly assured me that the harmony of the church service and of all involved was supported by God, divine Love. This allayed my fears, and I have never fainted since.
