Testimony of Healing March 21, 2011 Issue

Healed of smoking habit

Nancy W. Serini

The far-reaching fruitage of Christian Science healing is beyond measure! I would like to share an experience from my life that demonstrates its power and effectiveness.

I started smoking during my sophomore year of college, in conformity with those around me and with the movies and popular culture of the day. The habit continued for over 25 years, by which time I was smoking one-and-a-half to two packs a day. I tried to quit on my own, even going so far as to stash my cigarettes out in the garage, but I would always find myself going back outside to get them.

However, as Mary Baker Eddy quotes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity” (p. 266). My extremity became God’s opportunity as I found I wanted to know and understand Christian Science better and to join a branch church. I had been attending services regularly, but in my deepest heart I wanted to become a member—and I was uncomfortable applying while I still smoked. I can see now that God was guiding me toward church, toward a deeper understanding of Christian Science. As the first page of Science and Health states, “Desire is prayer . . . ,” and this desire to join church impelled me to seek a healing of the smoking habit.