Christian Science first came to...

Leonard J. Leifeste

Christian Science first came to my notice in 1931, but I did not accept it till 1933. It was then I attended a Christian Science church for the first time at the invitation of a friend. After the service he lent me his copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. That night I read about fifty pages, and when he came to my room the following morning I remarked: "If Christian Science can solve one's problems, how about its solving mine? Here I am, able and willing to work and no job." He said: "It will. Let's go see a Christian Science practitioner."

The practitioner was busy, so we went back the next morning at ten, and he gave me a treatment. Then I went to the public library, while my friend went to the hotel. When I met my friend at noon he had a telegram for me from the army engineers requesting that I report for work at once. I had taken an examination seven months before and forgotten about it.

To receive a position in two hours' time after being out of steady employment for two years was so wonderful to me that I took up the study of Christian Science in earnest. The first physical healing, which came soon afterwards, was of ivy poisoning from which I had suffered each summer for over twenty years. A disposition to take colds, catarrh of the head, and severe headaches also vanished, as did many unlovely traits of character. Christian Science was invaluable to me in finishing the work toward my college degree, after having left college a number of years before.

I should like to tell of the working out of another condition through Christian Science for which I am indeed most grateful. Being dissatisfied with the kind of work I was doing, and the salary attached, I resigned my position to accept one in Nevada. The first day at my new post a severe swelling of the face and neck set in, and although I studied, and declared the truth every waking hour, in four days I was unable to eat without severe pain. I decided to go home and have Christian Science treatment. When I arrived the following evening I called a practitioner, who took up the work. By the next morning the swelling was gone, and in less than a week I was completely healed. I then went to his office, and after hearing my story he asked if I wanted to go back to Nevada and I told him I did not.

After a treatment he answered my inquiry as to what I should do by saying, "We will lay it in God's lap." The following morning I received a wire from the army engineer's office in Honolulu inquiring if I was available and at what salary. I wired my acceptance, but when no answer came within a reasonable time the thought came to me that this time I must work it out alone.

After three months of intensive study of the Bible and all of Mrs. Eddy's works, I met one of the men from the office where I had previously worked and he insisted that I come up the following day because they were in need of engineers. The outcome was that I was reinstated at an increase of salary and rating which would ordinarily require from two to three years to attain.

Even as an automobile on the proving grounds is put through some severe tests, so must we have our proving periods. These may make our journey seem difficult, but as they are worked out in Christian Science we find our moral fiber strengthened and the next test easier.

I am grateful to our Father-Mother God for our blessed Way-shower, Christ Jesus, and our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy. I am also grateful for membership in The Mother Church, for the Reading Rooms, and for the practitioners who stand ever ready to help us.—Leonard J. Leifeste, Phoenix, Arizona.

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