When I was a young mother with two little girls and my husband and I were beginning adoption procedures for a third child, I should have been happy. Instead I was fearful, nervous, depressed, and hyperventilating many times a day.

Now, it had been a long time since I had relied on God for anything, even though I had been taught to do just that as a pupil in a Christian Science Sunday School. These days I went to doctors and found it very easy to take medicine and ignore God completely. My family physician, upon diagnosing the symptoms, was sure that barbiturates would cure me. I faithfully took several a day.

Months later I returned to the physician with the same symptoms. An added complaint was that I felt like sleeping all the time. The new prescription was to be barbiturates and amphetamines. Again I faithfully took them. Only now, I washed them down with alcohol, adding one more drug to my list. I was not getting better. Often I thought I would lose my mind, and several times I considered suicide. At one point, after several days of severe mental confusion, I felt I should admit myself to a mental ward of our local hospital.

Then in a moment of quiet—like a "still small voice"—in the sound of gentle stillness, I remembered God and Christian Science and prayer. Then and there I vowed that if I tried Christian Science to help me, I would make a commitment to it and not just "give it a chance."

Decision made, I called a Christian Science practitioner. All I was able to mutter aloud was "Help." In response I heard him say to me, from Psalms, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." It was as though a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders. My neighbor, who used to sit with me when things got really bad, remarked how my attitude had changed overnight. I was joyful, although I didn't understand how all this had happened. I was healed of all drug dependency.

With the encouragement of the practitioner, I began to study the Bible Lesson (outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly) and to attend a branch church on Sundays and Wednesdays. After all, I had vowed to make a commitment. Slowly I began to understand more about God as Mind and more about man as the spiritual reflection of Mind. I saw that in reality there was no way I could lose my mind, since God was my Mind, my Life. Several months later I was ready to join my local branch church and to renew my membership in The Mother Church. The next year I took Christian Science class instruction.

During the dark days of mental depression, my husband and I had halted the adoption procedures. Now we started them again, and in a year we had a three-month-old boy.

According to the laws of the state where we lived, until an adoption is final, if a need arises, the child must be under medical supervision. A need arose when it became evident to us that something was seriously wrong. I took the child to a doctor. The diagnosis was cerebral palsy. Our son was pronounced a hemiplegic; the doctor said there was no medical cure and that things were going to get worse.

How thankful I was for what I had learned about divine Mind when I became a Christian Scientist. Now I was to see that in truth Mind, not brain, controls the body. I came to understand through prayer that there is an infinite abundance of intelligence, because it is derived from God, who is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. I saw that because intelligence is a quality of infinite Mind, in his real, spiritual nature my son expressed infinite intelligence.

As I knew through prayer what was true about intelligence, the brain damage was healed. Much of the paralysis disappeared quickly, and soon the adoption of our son became final. I continued to pray for our son daily. When he was tested for enrollment in kindergarten, he rated very high in academic testing. He also rated average in the fine and gross motor skills.

His healing has been complete. He is a healthy and intelligent son, thanks to God. What a wonderful benefit Christian Science has been and is to me and my family.

Nancy Kay Giese
Delafield, Wisconsin