My mother had told me that my very first healing occurred when I was a tiny baby. But I hadn't realized until hearing the story again from her recently that I actually owe my life to Christian Science.
When I was about five months old, I suffered from a severe case of whooping cough. My mother engaged a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. Through the practitioner's reassuring conviction of God's love and care for His children, my mother's fears lifted, and the coughing ceased. However, afterward I was not eating adequately and for several days I took no food at all. My father expressed his concern and urged my mother to take me to a pediatrician. When this specialist saw me, he mentioned to my mother the name of the condition I had had and marveled that I had survived it. He then prescribed a complicated diet for me and recommended a method of artificial feeding.
After my mother had returned home, this sentence from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy came to mind: "The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love." She had a clear realization that God is man's Life and that it was divine Love that had sustained me. Moreover, she was assured that Love would sustain me still. She decided against the diet and artificial feeding. That night I took a little milk, and the following morning I was fully healed and eating normally again.
