The first time I had the Christian Science textbook,...

Marguerite Orth

The first time I had the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, in my hands was in Switzerland, where we were refugees. It was a revelation to me and a source of joy. After the Armistice I settled in Alsace with my children. I regretted very much having to leave a country where I had had the joy of knowing about Christian Science, and where I might have had the pleasure of coming in contact with Scientists. But God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. As the new house was large, I took several young people to board. One of them was interested in Christian Science. He put me in touch with a practitioner, who informed me of a group of Scientists not very far away.

I did not know about The Herald of Christian Science and the Christian Science Quarterly until much later. During these years in Alsace I consistently studied the Bible and the textbook, and we were divinely protected. Beautiful healings followed. I had been suffering from unbearable stomach trouble, and decided to see a doctor. When he told me that it was ulcer of the stomach, I was roused with indignation to think such a terrible thing could be. I walked across the magnificent hospital park protesting with all my being against this verdict. The words, "That is not from Thee, dear God, that is not from Thee," ran through my mind again and again. And these attacks have never reappeared. Abscesses which my children have had, disappeared without suffering. Blood poisoning, a bad case of grippe under difficult circumstances, a discharge of synovia, were healed instantaneously.

Then events followed one another rapidly, bringing joys and cares. I left Alsace and settled in another province. There followed a number of years when I very much neglected the study of Christian Science. However, I did not give it up entirely. There was great wavering, but God is ever present. One Sunday, while reading the Herald, I was healed instantaneously of severe trouble in my legs. It is an unforgettable memory. I had felt very far away, very irresolute. With this healing the desire to study Christian Science became vital to me. The new views vouchsafed me were amazing. They were a precious stimulus.

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