Growing up, my greatest desire and yearning was to fulfill the roles of wife and mother. My mother suggested that I become a registered nurse, and thereby always have a profession that allowed me to care for others and provide for myself.

My grandmother, who had raised me until I started school, had taught me that nothing was impossible to God. This grandmother had healed many neighbors, friends, and me as well, by her love and unwavering faith in God. She told me on more than one occasion that "God's Word is guaranteed!" I had confidence in my grandmother, but did not yet understand God's ever-presence.

I did become a registered nurse. Sometimes I administered doctors' prescriptions to patients, and sometimes placebos, and noticed that blank tablets and sterile water often diminished the complaints of pain and acted as effectively as sedatives, though they were not medicated. Even though I was employed as a nurse, I still had in the back of my mind the desire to learn how my grandmother had healed through prayer. I visited many different churches in an attempt to discover the secret to God's consistent healing power.

Later I married and had a daughter who was diagnosed by her pediatrician as being allergic to milk. We lived across the street from a Christian Science church, and occasionally I attended the services. I became interested in the church's method of healing through reliance on prayer. This prompted me to turn to a practitioner to heal our daughter. And she was healed through the practitioner's prayers, although the medical prediction had been that she'd always have to avoid all milk products and take a certain strong medication.

Thus began my full-time study of Christian Science. This brought me a glimmer of the understanding of how God heals. My husband was not interested in Christian Science, but he supported our relying on it to heal our daughter.

I left the medical profession, returned to school, and prepared for a new profession. After having just set up my own law practice, I was divorced and had the additional challenge of being a single mother. Christian Science helped me to gain a higher understanding of companionship by claiming my relationship to God and understanding His true parenthood.

The children and I turned to the Bible and Science and Health to heal every difficult situation that came along. As a result we saw the unmistakable activity of the Christ in our lives, and grew in our confidence of the power of God's word.

While happy that my children and I were able to establish a more spiritual concept of family, I myself had a gnawing feeling of void and lack in my life. I continued to work and pray to understand my own completeness as God's reflection. Whenever the lonely feelings arose, I learned to spiritualize my thinking, seeking a clearer understanding of true love through study of the Bible and Science and Health.

In praying with practitioners, and through Christian Science class instruction, I have been able to continue to grow in the understanding that I can never be divorced from God, or Truth; I learned to recognize healing through spiritualized consciousness, and stopped measuring my well-being just by the physical signs. This was like learning a new alphabet to speak spiritual language.

Now, as a member of The Mother Church, my greatest desire is to express the Christ more consistently and let the Father's light shine through me. I know this is not contingent upon another person—only upon God. This understanding hasn't happened overnight, but healing has come.

My spiritual growth has been a gentle, step-by-step experience. I thank all of the practitioners who assisted in helping me to understand and acknowledge my completeness in God. I feel truly satisfied.

Sarah F. Summons
Stamford, Connecticut