When visiting another city on business, I met a friend who asked me to go with him to church that evening. It was a Wednesday; and I thought it a strange invitation, for I had always associated church services with Sundays. He explained that I would hear testimonies of healing, and I consented to go with him. This was my introduction to Christian Science. I had never heard of it before, nor had I known that a Church of Christ, Scientist, existed.
After the meeting, my friend said he would send some Christian Science literature to my hotel the next day so that I could read it on the train going home. I was impressed with the testimonies in The Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel. I was particularly interested in statements in the testimonies which were quoted from the textbook, Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. To me, each testimony rang true and seemed so logical that I went on to read the various articles throughout the periodicals.
That week end my wife and I attended our first Sunday service, and our two children, aged three and six years, were enrolled in the Christian Science Sunday School. That was twenty-six years ago. Both our children were regular attendants in the Sunday School until they reached the age of twenty. They were quickly healed of whooping cough and minor ailments through their own receptivity to the truth which they were taught and with the help of a Christian Science practitioner.
I rejoice in the privilege I have had in taking part in many branch church activities. What I consider a very progressive year was the one in which I introduced a lecturer for the first time, was guided to take class instruction, and shortly after was elected First Reader. My joy to be in the service of God, divine Love, was and is overwhelming.
The protection afforded me during my period at the desk was such that I did not miss a service during the three-year term. However, one healing that took place during that time stands out.
One Wednesday morning I awoke with a severe cold and could not speak above a whisper. The practitioner who worked for me was loving and encouraging. The condition prevailed throughout the day, but I did not call on a substitute to take my place. Toward evening, there was no improvement in the voice.
Before going onto the platform, I prayed earnestly to God to use me in the way He had always used me, namely for the good of all the congregation who had come to the meeting at His directing. When I announced the opening hymn, my voice seemed to be louder and clearer than ever before, and when I sat down after reading the hymn, I said, "Thank You, Father, for this wonderful truth." I had no further difficulty.
More recently a bone in one of my fingers was dislocated while I was putting up double windows in my home. The pain began to subside as I realized that in reality there are no accidents and that, as Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 402), "In Science, no breakage nor dislocation can really occur."
With the consecrated work of a Christian Science practitioner, together with my own best efforts to apply the truths taught in Christian Science, the bone went back into place on the third day while I was in the Reading Room studying our Leader's Message to The Mother Church for 1902. The joy of that moment in which I realized the healing power of God through Christian Science will ever be with me.
Health, happiness, and supply have been abundant for me and mine since we took up the study of Christian Science. For a better understanding of my relationship to God, for Christ Jesus, who demonstrated the power of truth in healing the sick, and for our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, I am sincerely grateful.— Mount Royal, Quebec, Canada.
