I became acquainted with Christian Science when I was at the lowest point of my life. I felt like I was in a free fall and things were going only downward.

Within a period of three years, first my father passed away, then my sister (she took her own life), and finally my mother. Because of poor health I was unemployed and had more bills than I could pay and was not able to maintain my parents’ house.

Not long before the death of my mother we heard about Christian Science through our new family doctor. He told us, “You’ve got the right kind of mind-set. I know about something wonderful you might be interested in. It’s called Christian Science, and you may want to get in touch with these people.” 

I did not hesitate. After two phone calls I had the number of a Christian Science church and Reading Room that were about two hours away from my home. I had them send us a copy of Der Herold der Christlichen Wissenschaft [German Herald of Christian Science] as well as the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. My mother, who was very ill already, read the textbook and commented that this was “strong stuff,” but she continued reading. Although she died soon after, she was without pain the whole time and seemed to just “pass on.” 

I myself first turned to the Herold, and it spoke to me right away. I thought the healings and the love that shone through all the accounts I read were wonderful! But I was especially attracted by the healings because at the time I was suffering from arthrosis, fibromyalgia syndrome, allergies, and depression. It seemed that here I had found something that promised healing and a “normal” life for me after all. 

Through my phone call to the Reading Room, I got to know a long-time Christian Scientist who was willing to stay in touch by phone and started to explain the teachings of Christian Science to me. She was also the one who invited me to a Christian Science lecture and made it possible for me to attend. At the lecture I met a Christian Science practitioner, and the following week I contacted this individual for help. The practitioner told me that God was “pure” Love—that I was God’s child and He loved me. I was not so sure at first. I had more fears than trust in these words. God loving me, really? At the time, I was grateful when I managed even to take one step to go outside the house. The idea that God is Love and is constant, and that God actually loved me—that took some struggles for me to believe and understand.

The first results of working and praying with the practitioner were that my parents’ house sold much sooner than expected and I found a small, affordable apartment near where my brother lives. Still unable to get a job, I had plenty of time to become acquainted for the first time with the Bible, and to learn to understand it a little bit with the help of Science and Health. I could hardly believe that I was actually reading the Bible. Only a little while before, I couldn’t have imagined reading it—ever! 

This soon became one of my favorite passages: “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10, New King James Version). Those statements helped me deal with daily challenges. I began to accept and hold firmly to what it says in Psalms, that God was my refuge, my salvation, and my hope. 

The first chapter in Science and Health, called “Prayer,” also helped me. It taught me, in the first place, just to know how to pray, and to understand that God already knew what I needed, and that God really was my Father-Mother who loved me. 

One day I was out all day, and when I returned home late at night, I found that I had left my medications on the kitchen table untouched. I had forgotten to take them. I decided that since I had managed without them all day, and didn’t need them after that whole long time, I didn’t need them at all. And so it turned out.

After having experienced help through the practitioner’s prayers a number of times when I was in pain or when I was struggling with panic attacks, I woke up one morning and, still half-asleep, heard an inner voice telling me, “You can move freely again—you can move without any resistance.” Well, I thought, let me try that out right away. So I moved my hands, my arms, my legs, in all directions that I could think of, and they worked. I could move them without pain and very harmoniously. What a joy that was! I was able to take long walks, clean my apartment, wash my windows—and everything without needing to take any medication. 

I began to discover an undreamed-of new freedom for myself.

In a cogwheel, one toothed wheel meshes with the next; just so, things developed for me one after another. Half a year after this healing, I took a 12-day course in Christian Science healing. I was able to go to work again. People could touch me without me feeling pain. I lost my fears more and more. And I experienced other healings through my own prayers. I moved one more time and found a job that I never could have imagined before. I began to discover an undreamed-of new freedom for myself. 

Science and Health explains it this way: “As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness” (p. 264). 

I know that God is the only Life and I am the reflection of all that God is. I am very grateful to have found a better and more loving view of my identity, and I don’t suffer anymore from pain, fear, or depression, but can lead a life with much more love, health, and potential for further development. 

Even though many difficulties have fallen away quite quickly, I realize that there are other times where healing seems to take longer and is unfolding gradually. But I’ve learned, as Science and Health states, that “. . . God pours the riches of His love into the understanding and affections, giving us strength according to our day” (p. 5). For me, this means that God gives me the strength and love to view negative happenings from a spiritual perspective, and gives me strength to overcome them. 

Most important for me was and is and always will be the love that I have experienced through God.