As a child, I was under constant medical care because of having...

Isabella K. Alexander

As a child, I was under constant medical care because of having only one lung and other complications. I was unable to attend school with other children and was once hospitalized for three months. When I was able, I spent time with my grandmother, who lived in the Scottish countryside, and with my father and mother.

After my marriage I remained an invalid until 1922, when, through friends, Christian Science came into my life. Through reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, I found that my lung was restored, constipation disappeared, and for the first time I was able to live a normal and happy life free from illness and incapacity. I was able to play strenuous games of tennis, to travel, and to keep house. My life was transformed by this wonderful Science.

Helpful to me at that time, as in all the years since, was the statement in Science and Health (p. 463), "A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive." And I have always been sustained by the verse from I Corinthians which reads, in part (14:33), "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace."

In 1925, I had the privilege of class instruction with a devoted Christian Science teacher. Though I had been largely deprived of an education because of childhood illness, I discovered that I was educating myself through thorough study of the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings.

Later, when I was again alone, my childlike and unwavering faith in God enabled me to earn my own living. Having been bombed out in England at the beginning of World War II, I was admitted to the United States and by the grace of God was put on the immigrant quota.

At that time I was unexpectedly subjected to a thorough physical examination. The verdict rendered by the medical officer was, "I never saw a more perfect specimen of womanhood." With a continual song in my heart, I spent ten years as a receptionist with a firm in New York City.

Later, healings of pleurisy, the effects of accidents, and a severe case of arthritis were all testing times that brought out the glory of God and His perfect creation. This last healing was the only time I needed to call for the help of a Christian Science practitioner. Through her faithful prayers I was again lifted from a crippling condition and set free.

After I returned to England, my home was restored to me, more complete than before. At every step in my experience the verse from Romans has been proven true (8:28): "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

For all this, and more, my heart goes out in gratitude to God, for Christ Jesus, and for Mrs. Eddy, whose pure love for humanity has brought the Comforter promised by Jesus to this age, so that all who will may drink of the water of life and be filled. I am grateful for membership in The Mother Church and for branch church membership at different times in London and in New York.

(Mrs.) Isabella K. Alexander
Hove, Sussex, England

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit