When my first healing took place in Christian Science, I had been married six years. My mode of transportation to work was elevated rapid transit. One morning when I was a little late, I heard the signal for my train's departure and ran up two flights of fairly steep stairs to catch it. When I sat down in the train I was breathing very hard and having chest pains. My fear became almost overwhelming that I was having a heart attack. I began to pray, repeating "the scientific statement of being" from page 468 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and holding to its message throughout the day.
When I arrived home I had quite a bit of difficulty climbing the stairs to our third-floor apartment. My wife called a Christian Science practitioner, who said he would pray for me immediately and gave me several passages to study in the Bible and Science and Health. I studied and prayed throughout the weekend, particularly a verse from Psalms, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (46:1); also the passage from the textbook, "Correct material belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form you anew. You will never fear again except to offend God, and you will never believe that heart or any portion of the body can destroy you" (p. 425). Although the weekend was not easy, my prayers and those of the practitioner continued. On Sunday evening I was able to keep a commitment to usher at church, and went back to work several days later healed, completely and permanently.
Another healing took place several years after I had taken class instruction in Christian Science. I returned from a church meeting one evening and went to bed soon after, but woke about midnight with an intense abdominal pain. This was nothing I had ever experienced previously. I held to the statement "There is no power apart from God" (see Science and Health, p. 228) as I made my way to the bathroom. I asked my wife to call my Christian Science teacher to pray for me. The pain continued, however, and I had to lie down in a fetal position. After making the call, my wife tried to help me by singing hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal.
