Speaker: Our guest today is a woman who once found herself faced with these questions: Is life worth living? Can I be free from the burden of sickness? Is there some way to find a reason for my existence? She discovered the answer and is here to tell you about it in her own words.

May I introduce Mrs. Ethel R. Rethman, who is from Tulsa, Oklahoma. When did this experience take place, Mrs. Rethman?

Mrs. Rethman: Well, this happened about twenty years ago. I'd been in poor health for several years, and I'd been through a series of operations; but I didn't get any better. I was suffering from sciatica, colitis, and sinus trouble, and I was hard of hearing, besides. I was in pain almost constantly and had to stay in bed most of the time. I was afraid to eat and could hardly use my eyes for reading. And there were other things too. I was so despondent I was ready to give up. I didn't want to be a burden to anybody, and I'd about decided it would be better just to drop out of the picture—not to try to go on living.

And then one day I turned to The Christian Science Journal. You see, I'd come across some Christian Science literature from time to time in public places, and I liked the way it presented God as Love. But it had never occurred to me that this was the truth I was looking for. I didn't dream it could have anything to do with me, not at first, anyway. It seemed too beautiful, too far removed.

But finally one day I opened that copy of the Journal. But before I opened it, I prayed to God to let me know whether or not Christian Science was the truth or just another blind alley, something that would just soothe my thought but still wouldn't work anything out. I prayed from the bottom of my heart. Then I opened the Journal and began to read an article called "God Is Love." I studied it very slowly, sentence by sentence.

One thought stood out to me. It was a quotation from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. And it said of man (p. 475), "He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas."

I read it over and over, and I decided that either this was the absolute truth or it wasn't truth at all. And I reasoned about what it could mean. It seemed to mean that man couldn't know or include anything that didn't come from God; that man must actually be the expression of God.

This was a revelation. It just flooded my consciousness with light, and I was suddenly free from pain. After that I wanted to read every word Mrs. Eddy had written. I sent out for a copy of Science and Health, and I read all day without any pain. In fact, that was the end of any pain in my eyes. It seemed simply wonderful.

This made me realize that I, could be completely healed. I didn't have to die or be useless! I could live and help other people.

I could see that if I was going to depend on God as all-powerful, I couldn't depend on material remedies at the same time. I kept on studying day and night, and one thing after another just dropped away. I overcame my fear of food and was able to eat normally again. The sciatica and colitis cleared up within three months. So did the hearing, everything.

So the healing was complete. But it was more than just a physical healing—much more. It changed my whole way of life. My main desire was to understand God so that I could share this healing truth with others. You see, I felt I hadn't been saved just from something. I'd been saved for something. I knew Christian Science had shown me how to live Christ Jesus' teachings, and living them became the most important thing in the world to me.

Speaker: Living the teachings of Christ Jesus is certainly a worthy objective for anyone. Thank you, Mrs. Rethman, for telling us about your healing.

Friends, you remember that our guest first turned to The Christian Science Journal for comfort, and she found help there. The Journal is one of the publications of The Christian Science Publishing Society. After that she read "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," written by Mary Baker Eddy. And may I say right here that many people have been healed of serious diseases and discords of every kind simply by reading this book. It was the scientific truths found in this textbook, which so closely follows the teachings of Jesus, that healed Mrs. Rethman and changed her entire outlook on life.

You see, the teachings of the Master, which are made so practical in Christian Science, reveal the true nature of God and man's relationship to God. They show that God is ever present and all powerful divine Love.

Christ Jesus demonstrated this truth in his merciful healing work. He taught that our heavenly Father, divine Spirit, is good and good alone. As we read in I John, "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

Now, when we truly accept these teachings and gain an understanding of them, they naturally dispel the darkness of fear and physical discord. Prior to the time our guest considered them, her whole experience was darkened by fear, disease, and despair. She was believing herself to be cut off from good, from life and health and joy, separated from God, who was a mystery to her.

But all this changed when the true understanding of God and of man came to her. It came as a great awakening, a revelation that flooded her consciousness with light. It cleared away negative, material thinking and brought physical healing. It gave her a new outlook on existence—on what God is; what life is; what man is.

Such a transformation is natural when the true understanding of God is gained. Starting with God, who is the cause of all creation, we remember the Bible states that man was made in God's image and likeness. That likeness could not be a material, an unhappy, ailing mortal, but must be a spiritual, healthy, useful, idea of God, living in eternal Life. To understand these spiritual facts concerning God and man in His likeness establishes the spiritual standard of living.

But if one manifests poor health, how can a complete recovery be brought about? By his turning away from the material picture and giving up the belief that man is mortal and ill, thereby gaining the understanding of man's spiritual, complete selfhood. It means his giving up laws of hygiene and acknowledging the spiritual law of health—his giving up the false theory that God sends sickness and accepting the scientific fact that God causes only good, now and forever, for His children. In other words, his giving up the unreal and gaining the real.

To the degree that we realize this perfect, spiritual standard, everything connected with our human living changes for the better. Health is restored. A correct attitude toward life is attained. This is worthwhile living, and it is possible now. In the words of Mary Baker Eddy in one of her published 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. 324 from the Christian Science Hymnal (Take my life, and let it be...).