When I was six weeks old, my mother became very ill. A doctor said that there was nothing more he could do and that she would die. The minister told my mother she was being chastised for some reason and must simply bear it. Because she'd been raised hearing about the fires of hell, she was particularly afraid of dying and going there.
Shortly after the doctor's prognosis, her sister and brother gave her a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy and suggested that she read the book. She did, and in later years she told me that the explanations of heaven and hell in that book had offered a very different approach to the whole subject—that, in fact, they'd healed her. The realization that God loved her and would never hurt His children or make them sick gave her great peace. She was healed of wearing glasses just from reading the book. In one sense, Christian Science saved our whole family, since, in those days, when a mother died, the children were passed around to different family members. My mom became a Christian Scientist after these healings, and Daddy began attending the Christian Science church, taking us children and, eventually, his grandchildren and even neighborhood children to the Sunday School. Ours was a loving, close family, and I grew up trusting God. When there were problems, we turned to God, knowing that He'd solve them to everyone's satisfaction.
In one sense, Christian Science saved our whole family.
