I have been a Christian Scientist...

I have been a Christian Scientist for over seventy years, and wish to express my gratitude.

I would like to share a healing I experienced recently. It was a public holiday and, being home alone, I decided to have a happy day with the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy's writings. Gathering up my books, I sat down in a room flooded with sunshine. While attending to some hand sewing, I also played cassettes of hymns with words by Mrs. Eddy, including one beginning "O gentle presence, peace and joy and power...." (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 207). After lunch I continued my study until the sun went down. Then I climbed onto a chair to put the cassettes away. I had to stretch to reach the shelf and lost my balance. The chair I was standing on turned over, and I came down hard on my right side and elbow.

Before making any attempt to get up, I repeated some of the statements I had been studying from Science and Health including "Under divine Providence there can be no accidents, since there is no room for imperfection in perfection" (p. 424). I tried to rise, but the pain on my side was so great, and breathing so difficult, that I lost consciousness. When I woke I remembered another promise from the book: "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (p. 494). As I was alone, my human need at that moment seemed great, but I realised that God was my strength. A verse from Deuteronomy, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (33:27), gave me great comfort.