One summer day about fifteen years ago, I swam across a...

One summer day about fifteen years ago, I swam across a river that was perhaps a hundred and fifty yards wide at that point. After spending a few minutes on the shore, I dived in again for the return trip. After I'd been swimming for a while in the fast-running current, great weariness overcame me and I began to sink. I couldn't move my arms, and the water was up to my eyes. It was a remote area; there was no one to call to. Then the thought came to me, like a revelation, that there is a life that doesn't depend on air and that can't be extinguished by water. This thought had the effect of saving me; I was able to begin swimming again, and soon I was scrambling over the rocks on the distant shore.

Two months later a much-loved aunt came to stay at my home, and she brought with her the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. (My aunt was a medical nurse of advanced years, and she was attempting to understand Christian Science.) I was aware of Mrs. Eddy and of this book, and I asked to borrow it. As I began reading, I felt a new sense of discovery and satisfaction. I felt that this was the truth of being, and I realized that this was the truth behind the thought that had saved me in the river. Two immediate benefits of reading Science and Health were a feeling of calm after a period of mental turmoil and an increased understanding and appreciation of the Bible.

Soon I was visiting a nearby Christian Science Reading Room, and during the next year I began reading the Bible Lessons outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly and attending services at a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. In the following two years I joined The Mother Church and a branch church and had the wonderful experience of class instruction in Christian Science.

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Testimony of Healing
I see that I traveled a long and sometimes difficult journey...
April 30, 1990
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