Formerly I suffered from loneliness, disappointment,...

Lore Helene Arand

Formerly I suffered from loneliness, disappointment, timidity, anxiety, fear, and nervousness. How often I longed for God, for rest, for peace! This yearning, this desire for God, was to be satisfied sooner I thought. "He shall call upon me, and I will answer him," said the Psalmist. In 1911 I was in Switzerland, where I was again filled with such an irresistible yearning for God that I asked myself aloud: "Where could you go in order to be quite near to God?" My longing was met, as three weeks later I found Christian Science in a very remarkable manner. Divine Love led me to a house where I was received by a Christian Science practitioner. With a heart heavy with anxiety I entered the house. I left it with a copy of Der Herold der Christian Science, and much love.

On trying to read the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, it seemed as if I were looking into a language unknown to me. This was in 1911 and 1912. In 1914 I went to Berlin, and there I found the solution. "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." I called to God and He heard me in my great extremity. It was the most bitter hour of my life, but also the most beautiful. I arose, went to my desk, opened my Bible and Science and Health, and read the Lesson-Sermon for the first time. AI subject was "Love." Then I began to study the Bible and the textbook earnestly; and the work was not in vain. The dark clouds dispersed more and more, and the glorious sun began to shine. Now I have found God, the Father-Mother of all, to whom I, too, as His child, can turn with my desire, namely, to gain an increasing understanding of Christian Science, in order that I may apply it correctly and be able to proclaim to others the marvelous kindness of omnipotence.

Just as my thought has been changed through the study of Christian Science, my whole person has been changed. Unlovely traits of character, anxiety, depression, melancholy, timidity, nervousness, physical ailments of many kinds, among others a swelling like a growth which had troubled me for over twenty-two years, have yielded to the power of Truth. All this evil has disappeared simply by reading and studying the Bible, together with the textbook of Christian Science and Mrs. Eddy's other writings. Every thought of Mrs. Eddy blesses, comforts, and heals. I am very grateful that I own all of our beloved Leader's writings. Even if dark clouds do still sometimes pass over me, I know now what I have to do, namely, to be patient, and to trust confidingly in God. My heart is so full of joy that I can proclaim to all the world what Christian Science has done for me. With a joyful heart I express my gratitude for membership in First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Berlin, and in our beloved Mother Church in Boston; for being priviledged to teach in the Sunday school; and for having had the great privilege of class instruction. For all this I thank God from the depths of my heart. I am also grateful to our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, that noble woman who with such assiduity, love, and patience, has opened up this wonderful way. I also wish to express gratitude to the Directors of The Mother Church and to The Christian Science Publishing Society for the kind and gracious work of supplying us so abundantly with nourishment, which refreshes and strengthens.

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