Christian Science came in to my life in my late teens. Since a child I had loved the Bible, so it was natural for me to accept that Christian Science was the promised Comforter. For three years I earnestly studied Christian Science and really loved what I read. Then I went through an experience that left me doubting that God really existed.
Many years later, after the birth of my second child, I became very ill. Medical specialists informed me that I had suffered a stroke and that, if I lived, I would be an invalid. During one night in May of 1968, at home in bed, I realized that I was dying. The experience was peaceful—as if I was passing through a tunnel of indescribable, soft light. But, realizing that I was leaving my two babies (they were only 17 months apart in age), I cried out in rebellion at not being there to rear my children. I said, "God, if there is a God, let me live for my babies. I promise that I will try to learn whatever you want me to learn, and I promise never to turn back."
When I regained consciousness, I asked a family member to look in storage for my old copies of the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. When I read the Preface and page one of the first chapter "Prayer" in Science and Health, I fell into the first normal sleep that I'd had in many months. Every day after that I studied the Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly. I also read all of Mrs. Eddy's writings to which I had access, and many of the biographies about her life.
