ONE DAY over 40 years ago, while being driven by a Christian Scientist friend on a sightseeing outing, I started feeling pain in my chest. As the pain became increasingly uncomfortable, my friend drove me home and stayed with me for prayerful and practical support. Within a few minutes the pain intensified and spread to my head and other parts of my body until all my body became stiff and motionless, leaving me unable to speak.
I was sufficiently aware of my surroundings to see the frightened look on my friend's face and to hear his immediate exclamation, "Oh, my Father!" He immediately called a Christian Science practitioner to ask for Christian Science treatment for me. Over the next half hour or so, the pain eased and within a couple of hours all bodily movement returned. Although I was deeply grateful to be so quickly healed of this critical physical distress, a nagging fear of exerting myself physically as well as a frightening mental darkness and depression began to plague me.
Day after day, as each evening approached, the severity of the mental condition became almost unbearable. The depression added to my reluctance to enter into any activity, even those involving simple domestic chores, such as making my own bed. I resigned my position as an elementary school teacher, fearing that my intellectual capacity had been diminished. Because of the nature of the condition I didn't want to explain the trouble to others, and I felt reluctant to ask a practitioner for help.
