My parents separated when I was three years old. At the time it was the Great Depression in the United States, and they lost their two restaurants. They also suffered the devastating loss of their four sons in infancy over a seven-year period. Because of their grief and discouragement, they decided to go their separate ways. My mother and I moved a great distance out of state to live with her parents on their ranch, and she supported us through her work as an obstetrician.
Six years later, when I was nine years old, my mother became ill. She was diagnosed with a terminal disease, and was given, at the most, two months to live. It was during that week that a new acquaintance of my mother’s told her about Christian Science and gave her a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. This friend took us to church services at a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, and I was enrolled in the Sunday School.
Fortunately, my Sunday School teacher was a Christian Science practitioner. Her support and encouragement were a great help, and my mother and I began to understand the truths in Science and Health. Her specific prayers helped break the mesmerism of grief and fear that dominated my mother’s thought. Before the end of two months, my mother was no longer suffering from sleepless nights, or loss of appetite, and the heaviness she had felt in her chest was gone. She knew she was healed. Later, my mother told me how by turning to God, trusting Him, and learning to forgive, she was freed from resentment, disappointment, doubt, and fear.
