I will always be grateful to the friend who sent me issues of the Christian Science Sentinel one winter. I enjoyed reading them and thought Christian Science a beautiful teaching but not something I could practice in my own life.I had been brought up in a church of another denomination, and my father was a doctor. So I was well versed in traditional medical care.
I was married during the First World War and had four boys. When the third child was five years old, he became very ill and we called our family physician. After our son had received medical care for a week, there was no improvement. So the doctor asked that the child be taken to a hospital in Boston for tests.
After our son had spent ten days at the hospital, a tentative diagnosis of Bright's disease was made. The medical verdict was that the digestive and eliminative functions had ceased and that there was only a 50 percent chance the boy would survive. In any case, the doctors said, he would never be a well child, and there would be many things he could not do.
As we returned from the hospital, I told my husband that I would like to try Christian Science. He was quite prejudiced against Science because of newspaper stories he had read. But since the hospital had offered so bleak a prospect, he was ready to go along.
We got in touch with a Christian Science practitioner, signed a release form at the hospital, and took the boy home. The practitioner came to our home to talk to our son and to explain to us some of the basic spiritual truths of Christian Science. I don't remember many of the specific truths she shared, but I was impressed by her calm assurance in the face of what seemed to me a frightening situation.
There was no apparent improvement during the first three days, but the practitioner encouraged us to persist in acknowledging the boy's spiritual nature as a child of God's creating. The third night after we had brought our son home from the hospital, I had to go out for a while. As I was leaving the house I said to my husband, "Perhaps you could read the book." (I was referring to Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy) Up to that point, my husband had taken no part in the study of Christian Science. But when I returned home later, he had been reading the book and said, "Why, the first chapter on 'Prayer' is beautiful."
That same night, for the first time in weeks, our son asked to go to the bathroom. The accumulated blockage passed, and his body resumed its normal functioning. It was as though the physical blockage in the child's body had yielded when the mental resistance toward Christian Science had been overcome. This bears out what Science and Health says about Christian Science treatment for children: "If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs to be met mainly through the parent's thought, silently or audibly on the aforesaid basis of Christian Science."
In three weeks our son was out playing in the yard, completely healed.
Thus began my long road out of material health theories. At the time, this healing seemed miraculous, almost magical. But over the ensuing years I have gradually come to understand that Christian Science is indeed a Science, subject to proof through faithful application of its rules.
It was wonderful to see how readily the children received this new teaching. One day when one of the boys ran a nail into his foot, I couldn't resist soaking his foot in hot water, a remnant of my medical education as a child. As I put his foot into the water, he looked up and said, "Would Jesus do this?" I was touched by the honest inquiry, and we dispensed with any material remedy for the healing, which took place shortly thereafter.
I am so grateful the children received this teaching in their childhood and are now working Scientists with their own families. I can only express the deepest gratitude to God.
There have been other healings over the years. Recently I fell, and something seemed to be out of place. I couldn't walk for about a week. With the prayerful help of a practitioner, I was able to get about with a cane. Soon the cane was discarded and I was completely healed.
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
I am the son mentioned above, whose healing brought our family into Christian Science. While I do not recall all the details of the healing, I remember that the Christian Science practitioner sat beside my bed and assured me with the utmost conviction that I was God's perfect child. I also remember being able to accept this statement with the same conviction, proving the truth of this passage in Science and Health: "Jesus loved little children because of their freedom from wrong and their receptiveness of right. While age is halting between two opinions or battling with false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards Truth."
The medical prognosis that I would be sickly and unable to do many things was proved untrue. Subsequently I played on the high-school varsity basketball team. I later passed an Army Air Corps physical examination and was accepted into the flight training program during the Second World War. In college I skied, ski jumped, climbed mountains, and played tennis. Now, over forty-five years later, I still enjoy a hard game of racquetball along with sailing, water-skiing, and other vigorous activities.
I have been most grateful to see the receptivity of my own children to the healing truths of Christian Science. And I am particularly grateful for my wife's steadfast and loving support during testing times.
I remember very vividly one time when our younger daughter was quite small. We were wakened around two o'clock in the morning by the sound of coughing from her crib. She was having difficulty getting her breath. I picked her up in my arms while my wife telephoned a practitioner. As my wife listened to the spiritual truths the practitioner shared with her, I could feel the fear drain away. The child immediately stopped choking, her color returned, and her breathing became normal. That night stands out to me as an example of the Psalmist's declaration "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
I am most grateful for the dedicated practitioners whose calm responses have so often cheered "the long watches of the night" (Hymnal). Christ Jesus, who gave us Christianity, said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John). Mrs. Eddy, the woman who shared Christian Science with the world, demonstrated that love through her life and teachings. I pray that I may be increasingly worthy of these gifts.
North Fairfield, Maine
