Article February 24, 2020 Issue

Mary Baker Eddy: Speaking from experience

Michele Newport

“The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love. Regardless of what another may say or think on this subject, I speak from experience.”

This is the first sentence of the first chapter of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 1). Every time I read the words “I speak from experience,” I feel as though the author, Mary Baker Eddy, has put her arm around my shoulders and is telling me that she’s been where I am right now. Her words assure me that my prayers, if based on the divine Principle and rules explained in Science and Health, will carry me to a more spiritual understanding of God and His idea, man (meaning all of us), which will result in healing.

The first half of Mrs. Eddy’s life was fraught with struggle. Yet the hardships she faced—chronic illness, widowhood in her early twenties, separation from her only child, and a difficult second marriage that ended in divorce—turned her more importunately to God. And by leaning increasingly on Him and searching the Bible for answers, she was prepared for a glorious event.

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