It is hard to know where to begin in expressing my great gratitude for Christian Science.

I was brought up in this religion. My mother became interested in this Science before she married. Because of a serious illness the doctor had predicted a life of semi-invalidism for her. She turned to Christian Science and was healed. I can remember many evidences of her health and vigor, including mountain climbing and tennis. She had a long active life, far removed from any trace of semi-invalidism. Her spiritual conviction of the healing power of Christian Science early inspired me with deep faith in the transforming power of this Science.

Many years ago I had an illness which frightened me. I do not know what it would have been called medically. I asked for treatment in Christian Science. Seeking earnestly for a deeper understanding of Truth, I clung to passages in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy.

Two keynotes of this healing stand out. While talking with a Christian Science practitioner at a particularly anxious moment, I found myself searching for causes of the disease. I was instantly roused by her strong statement that actually disease has no cause. It is not part of God's creation.

The second key point in my recovery was my conscious effort to be unselfed, despite the illness. Sickness did not justify self-absorption with my own problem. I had noticed fear in my mother's voice when she read to me. I saw that I could help allay her anxiety by expressing more assurance and cheer. I also turned my thoughts away from self to others outside the family. While the healing did not come immediately, it did come, bringing with it added fruits of spiritual assurance and understanding.

I am grateful for the healing of grief when my mother passed on. For many years the fear haunted me that her going would present me with a very difficult challenge. But through the splendid support of a practitioner at that time, divine Love's continuing presence was vitally felt. I was so free of grief at my mother's funeral service that I found my heart reaching out to others who were in tears. I longed to comfort them by sharing the spiritual conviction of uninterrupted life. Mrs. Eddy's words (Science and Health, p. 494), "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need," came to me with new meaning during the days after my mother's going. I saw more clearly than ever before that divine Love had always met her need and always would. This brought added peace and healing to my thought.

Many years ago I was dissatisfied with the position I held. I sought other jobs frantically. I even considered pulling up roots and taking a more responsible position in another state. Suddenly I realized that I was seeking a job career rather than a new step of spiritual progress. Mrs. Eddy's statement (The People's Idea of God, p. 1), "Every step of progress is a step more spiritual," was like a beacon to me. A friend spoke of the great opportunity for service in working for the Christian Science movement and of her own great joy in this work. I recognized that this step would be "a step more spiritual."

Soon a position opened for me at The Christian Science Publishing Society, but at a lower salary and with less responsibility than my former job commanded. However, I was convinced that it was right and that I could trust the activity of divine Principle. Openings for more responsible work in the same department came very soon, leading step by step to work that I particularly loved and for which my background had fitted me. My progress there unfolded year by year until I left to go into the full-time practice of Christian Science.

I am deeply grateful that at an early age I learned reverence for God and gained the conviction that God's all-power and perfection are inviolable facts. I often turn to Mrs. Eddy's inspiring words, "The little that I have accomplished has all been done through love,—self-forgetful, patient, unfaltering tenderness" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 247). I pray that I may daily learn to manifest more of this love.

Words cannot express my gratitude for Christ Jesus, the Way-shower, for his clear example to us, and for Mrs. Eddy for discovering this Science, which enables us to follow Jesus' example and to face every situation with assurance and spiritual conviction.

(Miss) Frances Motley Pray, Stockton Springs, Maine