About nineteen years ago my husband and I had our first interview...

About nineteen years ago my husband and I had our first interview for the adoption of a child. Because those seeking to adopt far outnumbered available children, we desired to approach the matter unselfishly. A sentence from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy instructed me (p. 326 ): "Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way."

The agency, learning I was a Christian Scientist, revealed that this was their first application involving a Scientist. Their regulations required that I have an examination by a gynecologist. I explained my religious reasons for preferring not to submit to physical examination but added that if necessary I would cooperate. At the second interview we were asked about our attitude regarding shots for the baby. My husband was not at that time a student of Christian Science and had been in the Medical Corps, so his natural response was to consent. Earlier he had desired that our first son have shots. Other interviews followed. Then came the waiting period. I continued to pray with the same helpful passage from Science and Health.

Finally, one day an agency representative came by to ask, "How would you feel about a certain little boy coming to live with you three days from now?" What a joy this was for us and for our first son, then four and a half, who had not been told about the possibility of a brother or sister.

Our new son was five months old when he came. He had been hospitalized with very severe eczema. A variety of medicines had been completely ineffective. Now that he was in our care, we asked the prayer of a Christian Science practitioner. The condition was healed in one week. The agency representative, amazed and wondering, was told we had relied entirely on Christian Science.

Two weeks later three ugly boils appeared on the baby. Asked by the agency what was being done, I replied that a Christian Science practitioner had been engaged and that I was studying the Bible and Science and Health in working along with the practitioner. The representative said, "After the way Christian Science healed the eczema, I'm sure it will heal this." The condition worsened, however, after my first call to the practitioner, and in my fear I called her for additional treatment. In five or six days the carbuncles opened and drained. There were no scars and never a return of the condition. In this the agency again saw Christian Science at work.

My husband postponed the shots, and he had started attending Christian Science church services regularly. When the agency inquired, we told them the child had not yet been given the shots. I was praying earnestly that our heavenly Father would again "open the way"—would guide and protect all concerned. A new agency representative came for the next monthly visit. She asked, "Aren't you a Christian Scientist?" Then she said, "I roomed with a Christian Scientist in college and she didn't believe in taking shots." "Nor do I," I replied. When she learned that my husband no longer felt shots were necessary, she said the child need not have them. I was never asked to see the gynecologist.

My husband was transferred in his work, but not before adoption was legally completed. Our financial situation, which, as the agency knew from the first, needed improvement, now began to improve greatly and has continued to be good.

Subjecting our first son to the shots had been difficult for me, but I knew my husband loved our son and was doing what he felt best. This loving attitude toward my husband, together with a practitioner's kind assurances, uplifted my thought. Later, when my husband asked for my prayerful help in Christian Science for a physical disorder that had plagued him since childhood, I had the joy of seeing him healed. We proved this Bible verse again (Ps. 91:11 ): "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." My husband later joined The Mother Church, a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, and served as First Reader. He is now serving the church in other capacities.

I am truly grateful to God for our Saviour, Christ Jesus, and for the tireless labors of Mrs. Eddy in giving us this provable truth not only for ourselves but to share with others.

(Mrs.) Lois LaDow Hilton
Benton Harbor, Michigan

I am the husband referred to and want to add my gratitude for the many blessings received through the study of Christian Science.