My first Christian Science healing took place when I was 18 and serving in the Navy during the Second World war.
As a young person growing up, I'd always had boils. Soon after entering the service, a boil appeared on my forehead. I had known about Christian Science all my life, though I'd never attended church. Because I had no other religion, I was listed as a Christian Scientist in the Navy's records. A Christian Science wartime worker telephoned me and invited me for lunch one Sunday. At this time, I had a boil on my forehead, and the worker asked if I would like her to pray for me. I was somewhat skeptical, but I said yes. She gave me a copy of Science and Health to read on my own. I was astonished the following day to find that there was no trace of the boil. And I've never had one since.
Another healing that is very meaningful to me required a great deal of study and persistence over a number of years. I had visited an optometrist to have my reading glasses changed, when she informed me that cataracts were forming on my eyes. I asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me, and I began thinking about the spiritual meaning of eyes, sight, perception, light, focus, and other related ideas. I learned that all these terms, in their deepest meaning, have a spiritual, not a material, significance. So, just as there was nothing clouding my vision of who I was spiritually, there was also nothing that could affect my vision.
