Throughout my childhood I was aware that my father was having various kinds of material treatments. But he died when I was eleven, and this shook my childlike confidence in the healing power of doctors.

About this time two dear friends left our village to work and live nearer London. On a return visit they told my family of the new religion they had found: Christian Science. I asked about it and was given the simple answer that it accepts the truth in the first chapter of Genesis that "God created man in his own image" (1:27), and therefore man is truly spiritual, reflecting the perfection of God. What a revelation to me! Did this mean that God had made me spiritual and that He was caring for me? Was Christian Science an alternative to using medicine and a link with what Christ Jesus had lived and taught? I was assured the answer was yes on these points. This made me so happy and carefree, and so confident of God's loving care, that I gave up using medical prescriptions. When my mother took me for a regular visit to the doctor who had been treating me for a lump on my neck (the lump was now gone), he said, "My word, your daughter is lucky to have got rid of that trouble." Christian Science had healed me. I later understood that my simple acceptance of this logical teaching had brought the healing.

Our village was far from any Christian Science activities, but I had felt the touch of its practical teachings. When I started work, I put aside one week's salary to buy a copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. At first I didn't give it much attention. But I felt that this book was the precious key to the Scriptures that I might need sometime. In my late teens we moved to a city where Christian Science services were being started, and from then on I treasured the teachings and proved them to be valid in many instances.

When our son was about seven, one of his fingers got caught in a gate in the school playground. The teacher who brought him home feared he had lost the top of his finger. In accordance with the laws of our country, our son was taken to a doctor, and apparently the child had lost the top of his finger. A Christian Science practitioner was contacted to pray for him. My husband and I were asked to join in working with Mrs. Eddy's statement: "Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source. ... But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind is All and reproduces all—as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product" (Science and Health, pp. 507–508). The flesh was restored. And the nail grew again despite the medical fears. It was a quick healing.

Another time my knee was very painful, and I could only hobble about. As I prayed for relief, a verse from the Bible came to my rescue (I Kings 18:21): "How long halt ye between two opinions?" I saw that I was "halting," and great encouragement followed with the Bible's own answer from that same verse, "If the Lord be God, follow him." I knew that God's infinite plan could offer only spiritual freedom and good for His child, and this was the only viewpoint I needed. I joyously accepted the message and soon was walking normally.

I deeply appreciate Mrs. Eddy's devotion and consecration, which enabled her to discover the Science of Christian healing and give us the textbook, Science and Health, with instructions and ideas that even I can understand, follow, and enjoy. Membership and activities in different branch churches at various times have been a great protection and joy throughout many, many years.

JEANNE UNDERWOOD
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England