As a child, I lived in a very small community

As a child, I lived in a very small community. A new family moved into town, and we heard tell that they were Christian Scientists. No one in our community knew of this religion, but I started to learn about it when I was healed through Christian Science treatment. I was ill with a streptococcal throat infection, and the mother of the new family said she would pray for me and I would be healed. I was, and I thought it was wonderful to be healed through prayer. The truth that stood out to me at the time of this healing was (II Cor. 3:17), "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

My parents owned a farm while I was growing up. Plowing the fields, sowing the seeds, and harvesting the grain had great significance for me. I felt so close to God. The story of the wheat and the tares in the Bible took on a practical meaning for me (see Matt. 13:24-30). I began to understand that I must cultivate my thought in the same way—plowing deep, planting good seed of spiritual truths, and then being able to differentiate between the tares of mortal belief, which should be destroyed, and the wheat, or fruitful thoughts, which should be harvested and cherished.

At one time I injured my arm. I could not raise it or use the fingers on the hand of that arm. I sought no medical attention but instead gave myself Christian Science treatment. At the end of a week there was still no change. I remember sitting in our living room thinking of some folks who had passed on. I knew that in reality nothing about them had changed, for God's man reflects Him eternally. And since God is Life, man's life has no beginning and no end. Man continuously expresses activity, freedom, and wholeness. Right then I felt a twisting in my elbow, and I said to my husband, "Look, I can raise my arm and use my fingers. I am healed." And I was completely healed.

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September 10, 1979
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