During my very early childhood my parents had learned of Christian Science and accepted it wholeheartedly as a way of life. Consequently my sister and I had been brought up in a family that depended entirely on its teachings. So when I decided to marry one who knew nothing about Christian Science, that decision motivated me to wonder just what my religion meant to me. Why should I choose to be a Christian Scientist?

When my new husband asked me questions about my view of God, Christ Jesus, and medicine, he was not satisfied to have me refer him to a sentence or page in the Christian Science textbook—Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy—for answers. "Tell me in your own words what it means to you," he would say. And this was just what I needed—to crystallize in my own thought and put into words what Christian Science meant to me.

It was hard to do.

Certainly I had had many proofs that Christian Science heals. I knew it worked. There had been quick healing of physical diseases—what had been diagnosed as smallpox, for one. There had been freedom from accidents and protection from bodily harm. With Christian Science treatment, relief from pain was often instantaneous. I had been cleared of a school nurse's diagnosis of goiter; had witnessed the nullification of what had been called incurable tone deafness. Through prayer there was peaceful and harmonious settlement of human relationship problems.

All through the teen years I had been happily free from sensual temptations and bad influences. In fact, my life had been lived in a warm, loving, caring atmosphere. So why should I have so much trouble putting into words my devotion to Christian Science? Because, up to now, I had more or less depended on help from my parents or a Christian Science practitioner to solve any problems that presented themselves to me. I had not worked very hard at Christian Science or made it really my own.

My fumbling for words and expressing ideas in an incomplete manner stirred up many arguments. A practitioner, to whom I appealed for help, gently admonished me to stop arguing. And I did. However, that did not stop me from trying to put into words, for my own understanding, why I was absolutely sure that Christian Science was the way of life for me. My reasoning finally settled on something like the following.

If I believe that Christ Jesus lived on this earth as a historically factual individual—and I do; that the Biblical accounts of his life and experiences are true—and I do; that he was sent by God for the salvation of all mankind, which includes me and my husband—and I do; then I desire to follow Jesus' teachings and emulate his works as closely as possible.

Jesus did healing works. He also said, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." ^{Mark 16:17, 18.} How could anyone consistently and effectively follow Jesus' teachings and examples without rules? How could following his words be possible for others in time to come unless his works were based on unchanging, scientific laws that all could understand and use?

Mrs. Eddy had as a child been encouraged by her mother to pray to God for healing in times of illness. Many times during her adult life, before her discovery of the Science of Christianity, she had prayed to God for relief from various physical distresses, but like many sincere Christians who pray in all earnestness, she had not been healed consistently or permanently. Why did those prayers of faith of a devout Christian woman not bring healing?

Mrs. Eddy spent many years looking for an answer. She searched for health and cure in the medicine of her day, investigating conventional as well as unconventional systems of therapeutics. In an autobiographical sketch in her book Retrospection and Introspection, she writes, "I wandered through the dim mazes of materia medica, till I was weary of 'scientific guessing,' as it has been well called. I sought knowledge from the different schools, —allopathy, homoeopathy, hydropathy, electricity, and from various humbugs,—but without receiving satisfaction." ^{Ret., p. 33.}

Then in 1866, as she read a familiar passage from the New Testament, she was healed of the effects of a severe accident. This healing, which seemed a miracle to those attending and comforting her, encouraged her to make a diligent search of the Bible for the underlying divine laws that she intuitively felt must base such a healing. Through revelation, reason, humble prayer, and inspired study of the Bible, Mrs. Eddy came to the recognition of the absolute allness of the one God, who is infinitely and eternally good—an intelligent and loving God who cares for the universe and man of His creating with an impartial and universal love. A God who knows not evil, because as infinite good He is the only creator and cause. As the Scriptures set forth, this omnipotent, omnipresent divine creator is Spirit. Therefore that which Spirit creates must be spiritual and not material, for matter is Spirit's opposite. And like can only produce like.

In the logic of divine Science, man, made in the image and likeness of God, must be perfect because God, Spirit, is perfect. The laws that support that perfection are eternal and universal. The fleshly, mortal concept of man and the universe is, therefore, only a limited, material sense of God and His creation, a false sense of life and identity. As Science and Health puts it: "Human philosophy has made God manlike. Christian Science makes man Godlike. The first is error; the latter is truth. Metaphysics is above physics, and matter does not enter into metaphysical premises or conclusions." ^{Science and Health, p. 269.}

When one prays in Christian Science to understand God's laws and the power vested in them, one begins to recognize the immortal, spiritual nature of the man and universe of God's creating. This recognition brings the healing Truth to any situation.

The Christian Science textbook includes the basic metaphysical platform and tenets of Christian Science, spiritually scientific rules for healing, chapters on prayer, atonement, marriage, a chapter on science, theology, and medicine, and many other vital topics. The book concludes with a "Key to the Scriptures" section, interpreting Genesis and Revelation and giving spiritual definitions of Biblical terms. A final chapter called "Fruitage" puts on record one hundred pages of verified testimonies of healing and regeneration gained through the reading and study of this book alone. Given the intellectual, moral, and spiritual scope of Christian Science and its healing effects in people's lives, is it any wonder that Christian Scientists feel they have found the Comforter Jesus promised when he said, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth"? ^{John 14:16, 17.}

All of this, I concluded, is why I choose to be a Christian Scientist, and in the over forty years since my husband's challenging questions, Christian Science, with its continuing proofs of healing efficacy, has supported and sustained my certainty of the healing power of God's Word as revealed in this Science.