FROM AN EARLY AGE, I suffered for many years from the symptoms of what appeared to be a severe case of asthma. My father had suffered from asthma, and so had other members of my extended family. The symptoms would usually come with physical exertion, like whenever I ran.
My sister and I attended Sunday School in a small Christian Science Society, and my mother, who was a dedicated Christian Scientist, often read at the services, as well as performed other duties there. Although my father was not a Christian Scientist, he never interfered with my mother's practice of Christian Science. I know that she prayed to help free me from this chronic condition, and from time to time asked another Christian Scientist who lived in our town to pray for me. But the symptoms persisted until I was in middle school, when I developed the habit of reading the Christian Science Sentinel every night after I finished my homework. I had no thought of reading the magazine for inspiration for healing, but was doing the reading because I had grown to love the truths I was learning in Sunday School and was also finding in the magazine. At the time, I remember mulling over the concept of love, and thinking that I was not being very loving to some people. I was aware that I was impatient, too, and began doing my best to be more patient. I don't recall much more than that, other than by the time I reached high school I was free. The symptoms hadn't recurred for quite awhile, and I realized the healing had happened.
The trust in Truth, God, this healing instilled in me stood me in good stead later when I experienced the loss of all the strength in my right side. In the fall of 1999, I woke one morning unable to get up by myself. My husband helped me up, and although he was not a Christian Scientist, at my request he called a Christian Science practitioner, who agreed to pray for me. I could barely speak, but I went on the phone and said a few words. He expressed confidence that the healing would come, and I began to improve at once, though slowly. The practitioner requested that we call him every day to let him know of my progress, which we did. He never gave me any reading assignments, he simply prayed. And I did, too.
