In a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel some time ago, an account of one who came to the Christian Science Reading Room for the first time in search of a way out of human misery contained the phrase, "a human life in ruins." The words are an apt description of my condition when I first went to a Reading Room seeking help, for I, too, was struggling with poverty, cynicism, unemployment, despair, responsibilities I had no way of meeting, an illness the doctors had called incurable, and a deep weariness with human existence. A home and a job, with strength enough to do the work it required, came to me almost before I knew enough to give the credit for them to my regular visits to the Reading Room.

I was still taking medicines which were supposed to alleviate some of the symptoms from which I suffered, when one day I read in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy (p. 63), "You would never think that flannel was better for warding off pulmonary disease than the controlling Mind, if you understood the Science of being." I had been intending to leave the Reading Room early in order to have one of the prescriptions filled on my way back to the office, but I saw that depending on the medicine bottle in my purse was just as illogical as depending on flannel. I stayed at the Reading Room and studied instead of going to the drug store, and took no more drugs or medicines. People started remarking how well I looked, and I was, in fact, feeling so strong and well that I had to admit I was healed of the "incurable" organic ailment. Like the people whom I had heard of and laughed at, I had been healed by reading Science and Health.

Several months later my son was instantaneously healed of measles when, for the first time, I asked for a practitioner's help.

I cannot begin even to list the healings we have experienced since then. They range from demonstrations of supply in shopping for scarce articles, through the gaining of right employment and a better sense of home, to the healing of food poisoning, severe burns, and various infections, some of which presented quite frightening appearances.

At one time needed supply for a state orphanage, whose chief clerk I then was, was provided when we ran out of money during an economy administration. I was repeatedly told that it would be hopeless to try to get adequate supplemental allocations, and that we should be lucky if we got any supplement at all. But when the superintendent of the institution and I went to see the budget officer, the work in Christian Science had been so conclusively done that the supplemental allocations we received were in excess of the highest amounts we had thought there was any use to ask for, and were adequate to meet the needs of the children.

I should like to tell of an instance of divine Love's protection. While I was crossing a boulevard on my way to work, two cars, one trying to pass the other, put on such a burst of speed that one moment I seemed to have plenty of space to get across safely and the next moment one of them struck me knocking me under the wheels of the other. The wheels were still turning—not skidding, but turning—when they touched my body.

The angel thought came to me even as the first car struck, that the whole incident was preposterous, and that it could not happen to me. I was God's active idea and had work to do and couldn't be kept from doing it. I got up, dusted my hat, which had been knocked off, and examined my coat. Both my body and my clothing were undamaged except for a couple of small scratches on my legs, where my stockings had been snagged. I went on across the street, caught the bus, and went to work. This vivid illustration of the fact that Spirit has the right of way and matter can never dispute it successfully has been a great help to me.

Membership in a branch church and in The Mother Church has been an aid to demonstration, and so have the loving work and uplifting thought of practitioners who have helped when the need has seemed great. I am also grateful for the help from hymns and from the periodicals, and for the broadening influence of The Christian Science Monitor. I can never express in words how much the sacred experiences of class instruction and association meetings have done in steadying, inspiring, and protecting me. But above all I am grateful to God for giving us our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, and our textbook, Science and Health, because in the revelation of Christian Science divine Love has given me the answer to every problem and every need, even before I call.—(Mrs.) Rosanna Woodard, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.