On this program Mrs. Martha Kreager of Albuquerque, New Mexico, told of her own experience, as follows:

During more than thirty-five years my experience has shown me that the understanding of God as Truth, Life, and Love heals sickness. This understanding has come to me gradually as I have learned how to prove in Christian Science that God is not a God of hate and vengeance, but that He is divine Love, always at hand and always available to help us.

During the flu epidemic of the First World War, I was stricken with that disease. Our beloved family physician had treated me for some time when pneumonia and hemorrhage threatened to be fatal. I shall never forget how hopeless I felt when he said: "I have done all that I can do, and you can't stand any more. We will have to turn to God in prayer." Before he left I had sunk into a coma.

A little later, a friend, whose mother had been healed in Christian Science of a malignant disease, came to the house and asked my husband if she might bring a Christian Science practitioner to us. I don't know how long the practitioner sat beside me praying and declaring the truth about God, and man created in His likeness. But she finally got my attention, and I could hear her say, "God is your Life."

I remember telling her, "I just can't take any more; please let me go."

Her quick answer was: "There is no place to go; you are God's harmonious, perfect child now. God is your Life, and He is right here now."

I felt a mighty struggle and then a threat calm and peace. All pain and hemorrhage left, and I was free—completely. Within a few hours I was able to get up out of bed and take care of my children.

I did not understand very well what had healed me, but the experience taught me the truth of a statement in the Bible which stayed with me during many years. This verse in Hebrews begins with these words: "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword."

Many years later we moved to the East, and I was again in great physical need. Physicians said that only a very difficult operation would keep me from being an invalid for the rest of my life. A sister pleaded with me to turn again to Christian Science, and I did. A most loving, patient practitioner helped me find my way in this religion. This time the healing took several months, as I had much to learn and much to unlearn. I learned that God is a God of love and that He is not a God who punishes His children. The healing was complete and permanent.

Later when a physical examination was required, I was examined by two physicians who had known of my difficulty. Both were much amazed, and one of them gave full credit for the healing to Christian Science.

The musical selection on this program was "Right Where I Am " composed by Grace F. Snyder.

The commentary was as follows:

The poet Tennyson wrote: "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." Our guest's experience proves what true prayer can do. At the threshold of death she was awakened to life and restored quickly to health. Years later, months of patient prayer saved her from invalidism. How well her experience confirms the promise of Christ Jesus, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

If you wonder whether prayer can help you, as it did our guest, the answer begins with knowing what true prayer is. Prayer is not just the last resort, but the first and best recourse for everyone. It's not the privilege or the profession of a few, for anyone can learn to pray rightly. It's not the secret of the learned, for a child's clear trust in God can bring healing. It's not a formal ceremony, but a deep desire to know God better; not a thing of the lips, but of thought; not a colorless duty, but a joyful opportunity; not a repetition of mere flowery words, but a spiritual awakening. It brings assurance and proof of the goodness, presence, and all-power of God, divine Love. It meets every human need.

In Christian Science we base our prayers on the understanding of the present perfection of God and man in His likeness. This means our prayers are not made to a changeable God who both loves and hates, but to the Giver of infinite good and good only—to the unchanging divine Principle, eternal Love, the perfect Mind, which knows and creates good alone. This prayer enables one to understand himself, not as a suffering mortal, but as, in reality, the true spiritual man of God's creating.

Thus we do not merely ask, but acknowledge. Our prayer is not merely an admission of need, but an expression of gratitude that actually every need is already met. It's not a cloak for doubt, but the essence of absolute faith in God's unfailing goodness. True prayer is not blind, but seeing, for through it we discern the life, health, freedom, immortality, and perfection which belong to man in God's likeness. So prayer means bringing our thought into accord with the divine. It lifts us above selfish wishing to a self-forgetful desire to know and express God better.

In the chapter entitled "Prayer" in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 2), "God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less than bestow all good, since He is unchanging wisdom and Love." Farther on she says, "Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it."

In prayer we work systematical and intelligently to meet the particular need. This need is always met primarily through spiritual enlightenment. Prayer means learning the right spiritual idea for the occasion. In Mrs. Kreager's first healing, the Christian Science practitioner met directly the specific need at the moment of crisis, and the healing followed. Later, when our guest turned again to Christian Science, it required several months during which she found much to learn and much to unlearn for herself. But whether our progress be slow or fast, the opportunity is always at hand for us to learn to pray effectively. True prayer offers a full salvation from all trouble. It releases the greatest power on earth, for it reveals to us the ever-presence of divine Love. As Jesus himself said, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."