When I was an infant, my mother took up the study and practice of Christian Science, and the blessings that have flowed from this are immeasurable. Besides countless physical healings, I am deeply grateful for what I have learned of God as the infinite divine Principle, Love. To know God not just through what I have heard or through what I have read in the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, but through what I have experienced of this divine Love, is a precious gift.

In my late teens, on advice from a dentist, I had my wisdom teeth removed. That night, as the anesthetic wore off, the pain in my mouth became so intense that I could only lie on the sofa in tears, feeling unable to think or pray. But my mother was praying for me, and before long a sudden mental hush replaced the anguish, and in my thought I heard the words “O gentle presence” (Mary Baker Eddy, Poems, p. 4). With those words, and the profound quiet that accompanied them, came a complete cessation of the pain. Not a vestige of it remained or returned. This was just one of many times that I have experienced the presence and healing power of divine Love.

More recently, about ten years ago I was riding my young horse, Aari, when he spooked, throwing me off balance, and then sent me flying high through the air. Although I was wearing a helmet, the next thing I remember was calling my husband on my cellphone and saying, “I’m not sure where I am, but I think I just fell off Aari.” My husband was several hours away, so he asked some neighbors to care for me until he could get home. He also called a Christian Science practitioner to give me Christian Science treatment.