Having started a small group of Christian Scientists in a small town, I often felt alone in my endeavors. Church was in the next town, and I could rarely attend there, so the group started Sunday services. At first we seemed to meet with a lot of challenges, and I even wondered if it was worth going on, but at this point the Journal and the Christian Science Sentinel became my guardians. For some reason I had not received these publications for a period of six months, and I sorely missed them. I decided to pray about it, and they soon reached me.
The Journal and Sentinel were a constant source of inspiration, joy, and courage to go forward; they were a very practical help with many issues we faced. Even though "church" to me had always been more than a physical structure, a location, or a group of people I worshiped with, I now gained an even larger sense of Church as truly global. I saw myself as a member of God's universal Church, which embraces the whole world in consciousness. The Journal and Sentinel, and of course the Bible and Science and Health and other writings by Mary Baker Eddy, aided me in my prayers for the peoples of the world. I began to understand what true selflessness was—it reduced my burdens.
I could give a newcomer to Christian Science a Sentinel or Journal and know it would reach his thought. When some error needed to be uncovered, I found I could share insights from the periodicals. I also shared copies of Science and Health. Many healings resulted—some long overdue. For all this I'm truly grateful.
