While I was attending a Christian Science testimony meeting one evening, there was a period when no one stood up to testify. I wondered why we were all there that night. I asked myself, “Why am I here tonight?” Then the realization of what the study of Christian Science has meant to me through the years flooded my thought. How could I have managed without this God-given gift! I stood up to express my gratitude.
When a young child, I was thought to be delicate, running a temperature every afternoon, subject to colds, and was frequently rushed to doctors. Finally, a child specialist told my mother to throw our thermometer into the wastebasket. He said, “There is nothing wrong with this child!” However, since this claim of poor health had been attached to me for some time, it took the understanding I later gained through the study of Christian Science to convince me that there really was nothing wrong with me.
When I was about 13 years of age, my mother suffered with severe arthritis. Medical treatment gave her no relief. A dear friend suggested she read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. My mother read the book from cover to cover. A month later, she was completely healed, and I never heard her complain of that problem again.
I knew then that God had been leading me without my even being aware of His direction.
My passion as a child was dance and drama. Growing up, I performed in many little theater plays. When I was in my teens, my family moved from San Francisco to New York, where I enrolled in an acting class. A short time later, a top Broadway actress and her husband, who were teaching some classes, took me aside. They said that if I was truly serious about an acting career, they would be happy to advise me and to support my efforts. That very afternoon I began studying exclusively with them.
During this time I became ill and was seen by a doctor. I missed several lessons. When I returned and told my actress-mentor of my problem, she lovingly explained to me that I need not go through such a difficult time and said she was a student of Christian Science.
I told her I knew about Christian Science and described my mother’s healing. Since I was just 16, this actress suggested I attend the Christian Science Sunday School. My parents were pleased by this, and I enrolled in the Sunday School at a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, in New York City. This kind woman became my mentor both in acting and in the study of Christian Science. My mother also began to study Christian Science at this time.
Whenever I heard a troubling news report, I reminded myself to “choose life.”
Mrs. Eddy writes, “Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds” (Science and Health, p.1). I knew then that God had been leading me without my even being aware of His direction.
As an actress there were good times, and some very challenging times. A failed marriage left me as the sole support of two children, but I learned through my study that God husbanded me and trials were proofs of God’s care (see Science and Health, p. 66). When I was confronted with problems of health, relationships, financial needs, and parenting, I turned to God expectantly.
Once, dealing with fear for my son, who was serving as a Navy fighter pilot in the Vietnam War, I turned to the Bible and opened it to Deuteronomy 30:19: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”
Whenever I heard a troubling news report, I reminded myself to “choose life.” After serving two tours of duty in Vietnam, one for nine months and one for six, my son returned safely home. There have been countless other challenges but there was always Christian Science, its churches, practitioners, and teachers to turn to. Sometimes healing came quickly, sometimes it took deep study, but problems were solved and the human need was met.
