On this program Mrs. Winona N. Heimann of Los Angeles, California, told of her own experience, as follows:

I was in my teens, somewhere between the ages of sixteen and seventeen. My doctors diagnosed the condition as rheumatic fever. The case was a very intense one, and the fever settled in my knees, drying up the fluid in my kneecaps. I became slightly lame at first, but by the time I was twenty-one my knees were almost rigid and very painful. I was so lame that I had to use a cane in order to walk.

This was something like the experience of a very dear friend of mine who had been an opera singer. She fell and broke her knee, and the joint fluid ran out. As a result she had to give up her singing and walked on crutches for three years. However, she was healed in Christian Science and was walking normally. She kept lovingly urging me to try Christian Science, but I was skeptical and would not. Then I went to a specialist who told me that there was nothing known which could restore the joint fluid, and that I would always be lame. When I heard this, I went from his office to see my friend, and I poured out my troubles to her.

It was raining, and I had an umbrella and my cane. I found that my friend had been reading the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy's book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." She read me the story of creation in the first chapter of Genesis, also this verse from the New Testament: "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Then she looked at me and said: "You know the Bible tells us that God is Love. Do you believe this?" I said that I did. And she added, "Do you believe that God who is Love and who made all things could possibly have made a lame person?" I thought a moment about this question, and suddenly I saw so clearly and without a single doubt that God, who is Love, could not make anything unlike Himself. And in this moment of true understanding I was instantly and permanently healed.

The rain had ceased in the meantime, and I walked out of my friend's place leaving my cane and umbrella leaning against the chair I had been sitting in. I never needed that cane again.

This wonderful experience changed my views on Christian Science; and I was no longer antagonistic, for I knew it had healed me. But I am afraid I wasn't grateful enough. I did not study as I should have to learn just how this healing came about and how this religion could help me in other ways.

Two years later I became ill with an excruciating pain in my side. I went to a doctor who said I had a tumor, and that I must have an operation at once. I told my troubles to another friend, who suggested that I try Christian Science, as it had healed him of cancer of the stomach in its last stages. So I called a Christian Science practitioner and asked for help, and in three weeks I was back at work well and happy—all signs of the tumor completely gone. This time there was no question in my mind about continuing the earnest study of Christian Science. How could there be, after I had experienced two wonderful healings?

The commentary was as follows:

And I'm sure there's much more to your gratitude than the physical healings themselves, Mrs. Heimann. Your first experience gave you a clear glimpse of the underlying reality of God and man. The second awakened you to the importance of not only gaining but maintaining this uplifted state of thought through spiritual understanding.

It certainly is natural, friends, for anyone to ask how such wonderful healings take place. Very briefly the explanation given by Christian Science is this: When we gain a clear perception of what God is, when our consciousness is filled with an awareness of His power, perfection, and ever-presence, when we know that God never sends disease to His children, this leads to healing.

Sometimes this realization dawns gradually. Sometimes through earnest prayer or honest searching it comes more quickly. In either case, a clear glimpse of God's goodness leads to the logical conclusion that God never made man, His own image and likeness, to be mortal or diseased. Even in spite of appearances to the contrary, our guest realized that God never made a man lame. The one perfect God, divine Love, made and maintains man in complete harmony and freedom—not subject to accident or disease. This real, spiritual, indestructible man is your true selfhood and mine.

The Bible gives many examples of the transformation which an inspired awareness of God's nature brings to human experience. For instance, Job was sorely afflicted physically, financially, and mentally. With well-meaning friends trying to help him, Job wrestled long and hard to understand God's ways. At last, in humility, he gained an awareness of God's majesty and power and His government of all things. Through this new understanding of God, Job's thought was uplifted. He was healed physically and restored to a normal life. In New Testament times Christ Jesus awakened many through his healing works to the availability of God's power and love, and this transformed their lives.

In our own time, it was a glimpse of divine reality, gained after many years of searching to know God better, which healed Mary Baker Eddy of a hopeless condition resulting from an accident and led her to the discovery of Christian Science. In her book "Miscellaneous Writings" she tells how, while reading the Bible, an awareness of the ever-present healing Christ, Truth, dawned upon her. She writes (p. 24): "That short experience included a glimpse of the great fact that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely, Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence."

Very often a physical healing comes in Christian Science when a realization of spiritual truth so thoroughly captures one's attention that his whole consciousness is filled with light. He loses sight of discordant material conditions in the prayerful contemplation of the wondrous glories of God and man.

It was the healing influence of such inspired thinking which enabled Mrs. Eddy to write in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 449), "A grain of Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnipotent is Truth." However, it is important to note that she continues the sentence by saying, "but more of Christian Science must be gained in order to continue in well doing."

This was the important point illustrated by our guest's second healing. We should strive continually through study and prayer to maintain our awareness of God's presence. Christ Jesus never lost for a moment his vision of God's power and love and perfection. This enabled him to heal the most difficult cases and to heal them quickly.

You and I can experience God's healing power by striving to the best of our ability to maintain the consciousness of God's presence and power. This goal is pointed out in these words from Mrs. Eddy's writings (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 160): "To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science."

The musical selection on the program was Hymn No. 384 from the Christian Science Hymnal (When God is seen with men to dwell).