Testimony of Healing September 30, 1985 Issue

Ever since I was a small child, the sense that life was temporary...

JUDITH F. CHAPLIN

Ever since I was a small child, the sense that life was temporary or mortal bothered me a great deal. Our family attended an orthodox church, and although I always felt very loved by the members there, I did not find satisfying the doctrines professed by the church. When I was in high school, our family began attending a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. (An uncle of my mother's was a Christian Science practitioner and had helped her through prayer with several problems.) In the Christian Science Sunday School I learned that God is divine Love, unlimited good, and man is God's image and likeness. I also learned that no one is excluded from God's all-embracing care.

To me the most wonderful concept of all was discovering that man is not and never was a mortal sinner. God's man—the real being of each of us—is pure and perfect. I did not realize until much later how this belief that God could make a sinner had burdened me. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy tells us (p. 171): "Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brainology to learn how much of a man he is."

After high school I married, and later we began raising a family. For several years I quit attending church. During this period I experienced severe depression from time to time. A point was reached when I realized my need was to know God better, and I began to attend the branch church again and asked for help through prayer from a Christian Science practitioner. There were times of great challenge, but during them false beliefs came to the surface of thought and were handled and healed. The practitioner who was working with me helped me see that I was experiencing a mental transformation, from a material view to the spiritual understanding of my real being.

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I am grateful to have had the privilege of attending the Sunday School...
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