In my late teens I left Sunday School, and, like the prodigal son in the Bible, decided to see what the world had to offer. It was during this time that two significant healings occurred.

When I left school at 16, I got a job as an assistant to a firm of surveyors. At 17 I became very ill with a throat infection, just a few weeks before I was due to leave and go on to a surveyor's/cartographer's course. One of the partners in the firm I worked for became concerned and visited me at home just before the course was to begin. My mother, a devoted Christian Scientist, had been supporting me through prayer, and had also asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. I wasn't able to eat much, and any attempt at swallowing even liquids was painful.

The morning after the partner's visit, a letter arrived in the mail from the firm where I worked. The senior partner had decided I should take the rest of the time off before I started my course in order to recuperate, and so had sent me some sick pay to cover the time in question. Imagine their surprise when I walked into the office at the usual time the same day— to return the money and resume work! I was perfectly healed, with not a trace of the infection. The partner who had seen me the afternoon before could not believe his eyes, and asked me what had happened. When I told him I had been healed through Christian Science, he immediately requested a copy of Science and Health to read, which he did in the space of about a week.

What had happened was that I had glimpsed the unreality of error, with the help of my dear mother, who used the image of a tiny pin deflating a huge balloon to help me see through the illusion of pain, fear, and sickness. This analogy helped break the feeling of being transfixed by my sickness, and allowed me to see my spiritual perfection. Once I refused to be intimidated by the whole picture, the pain quickly receded, and by the morning I was completely well.

The second healing happened about five years later. I had dropped out of my surveyor's course and enrolled in what should have been a promising art course. I did not realize it at the time, but I had lost my direction in life. I was drinking, smoking, and using drugs, and deep down I knew none of my life choices was really in harmony with the way I had been brought up, but I wanted to conform to what I perceived to be a cool and modern lifestyle.

At that time a rash began to develop on the skin near my rib cage area, and I went to the doctor to have it checked out. (I had seen him for some medication for an earlier condition.) He diagnosed it as shingles, a type of infection, and was surprised that somebody so young (I was in my early 20s) should have contracted it. He gave me an injection of penicillin and told me to return the following week. I told my mother what had happened, and she asked me whether I wanted to continue medical treatment or rely on Christian Science. I told her, without hesitation, I would prefer the latter, so she helped me in the way she always had.

Immediately after I made the decision to seek healing through Christian Science, I felt at peace, and the discomfort stopped. My mother studied the Christian Science Bible Lesson and prayed each day, and together we discussed my spirituality. After about a week all traces of the rash had disappeared.

About a week or so later, she asked me whether I had been back to see the doctor. I replied that there was no need—I was healed. However, she thought it would be best to set the doctor's mind at ease about the healing, so I went back to him. I was not prepared for his reaction. He nearly exploded when he first saw me, since I should have returned for five more penicillin injections to complete the course of treatment and never had. He calmed down a little when I showed him the clear skin over my ribs, but I was too overwhelmed by his reaction to tell him I'd had Christian Science treatment.

When my mother and I returned to explain that prayer-based treatment had been used, he replied, "Why ever didn't you say?" He produced a copy of Science and Health from his desk drawer and explained that he was quite familiar with Christian Science, but had initially thought I was doing nothing about the problem.

These two remarkable healings were to eventually become steppingstones in my personal journey through the "Red Sea," which Mary Baker Eddy explained in Science and Health represents "the dark ebbing and flowing tides of human fear" (p. 566). Since then, I have had healings of fever and infected throat, as well as fatigue and depression. After I'd wandered in the wilderness, my desire for greater spiritual understanding was rekindled, and I eventually gave up the smoking and the other habits I'd developed in my early years. I'm grateful for God's tangible guidance and healing power in my life.

BRIAN ROBERTS
BOURNEMOUTH, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND