I owe to Christian Science all that has made my life beautiful...

Paula Stadler

I owe to Christian Science all that has made my life beautiful and happy, and to recount the physical benefits derived through the understanding of Truth would not be telling half of the blessings which it has brought me. When I attended a Wednesday evening meeting for the first time, I could not help feeling greatly impressed, especially by the silent prayer and the beautiful hymns which were sung. Besides being a physical sufferer at that time, I was burdened with the effects of a great sorrow, and in such a state of mental exhaustion that the apathy ensuing was a hindrance to mental effort. Life seemed to me absolutely dull and void, without purpose or aim. My religion afforded me no help, as it was not susceptible of practical application. I had sought after God's love, but had experienced only the stern unchangeableness of a crushing fate which seemed to be imposed upon me as a "trial," and yet I had honestly striven to be a good Christian.

All this was incomprehensible to me, and blind faith being an impossibility with me, I was at a loss as to how I should pray. I had no spiritual support and I daily struggled to force myself to continue living in this void. Finally, the only way to pray which seemed left, was that it might be given me to discern the truth. Christian Science then came once more. A Christian Scientist who called at the home where I lived at that time, read to me from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." At first I busied myself while she read, but soon dropped everything in order to listen, as what I heard meant deliverance for me. I was deeply stirred by the convincing power of this truth, and then experienced such a sense of joy that everything appeared to me in a new light. Many thoughts seemed to me surprisingly familiar and as if I had long yearned for them. The greatest comfort to me, however, was the fact that our material life and its experiences are no part of reality, but are the illusions of mortal mind, hence that no loss can really occur, and that God wills only good. The dawning recognition of God's infinite perfection and love brought me great peace of mind and inspired me with courage. I was filled with joy for having found the Christianity which heals the sick as did Christ Jesus, and when during those first wonderful days I began to understand that God does not know sin and never created disease, because He is Love and purity itself, a severe rheumatic trouble, with which I had been afflicted for twenty years at least, left me without treatment being given. About the same time I was also freed within a few days, through Christian Science treatment, of sleeplessness, which for a long time had been almost unbearable. Since early childhood I had hardly been one year without some severe illness, and had suffered in a great many ways; but I now enjoy good health and could tell of many instances of physical healing, one trouble after another disappearing as I have advanced in the understanding of the divine nature as the result of my study of the Bible in the light of Mrs. Eddy's writings and other Christian Science literature.

I experience the greatest happiness in knowing that divine Truth is ever available to us and enables us to demonstrate the unreality of all evil and disharmony. My life has since been filled with love, joy, and spiritual hope, such as I have not known before. I am deeply grateful to God for all the blessings of infinite Love.

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