I was introduced to Christian Science over forty years ago when I received a surprising answer to a very short prayer. I had grown up in a different Christian denomination, and during my school years had explored several other Christian faiths. I loved and frequently read the Bible. But what I read was sometimes confusing, and it seemed to me that many of the promises made in the Bible were just not realistic in today’s world.

One night after I had moved to a new state and was feeling a bit adrift, I asked God to show me a more satisfying approach to Bible study. The next day, a temporary worker was hired in the office where I worked. She was wearing a little pin, a cross with a crown on it. I asked her about it, and she replied that this was a small symbol of the religion she practiced, Christian Science. She had with her copies of The Christian Science Journal and the Sentinel, which she happily gave me. Over the time that she worked in our office we became friends.

I read those periodicals with an increasing conviction that I’d finally found what I was looking for. I started attending a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, with my new friend, and right away I felt a deep affinity for all that I was learning there. I also spent many hours in the local Christian Science Reading Room, where I eagerly read through many years of back issues of the Journal and Sentinel as well as current Bible Lessons from the Christian Science Quarterly. These Lessons are composed of passages from the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.

It was clear that God had provided a surprising and comprehensive answer to my brief prayer for a more satisfying approach to studying the Bible. But His answer did not stop there. As I studied the Bible and Science and Health, it became clearer to me that the promises in the Bible were not unrealistic, but could actually be fulfilled. I discovered, by reading about and listening to experiences of healing published in the Christian Science periodicals and shared in weekly testimony meetings at church, that these promises are actually being fulfilled for many!

I started to have my own healings through my study and practice of Christian Science. Over the next forty years, I was healed of clinical depression and physical problems such as nail fungus; issues related to income, finding affordable and pleasant housing, and work and family relationships were also harmoniously resolved. 

I now understand that even a very short prayer can bring blessings so much greater than would appear to be possible. That one little prayer changed my life. 

It’s impossible to convey in words the gratitude I feel—to God, to Christ Jesus, and to Mary Baker Eddy (who discovered Christian Science), as well as to the many diligent workers in the Church of Christ, Scientist, including branch churches around the globe, who help to make this Science available to all.