On this program Mrs. Mary Foster of East St. Louis, Illinois, told of her own experience, as follows:

I have seen in my own experience that loneliness and disillusionment can be completely healed and replaced with joy and constructive living. Some fourteen years ago I was confronted with a broken home. At first I was overwhelmed by despair and disillusionment because I loved my husband dearly. The prospect of being left alone and supporting myself filled me with panic.

I was a beginning student of Christian Science at the time, and so I turned to God in prayer. I studied the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy diligently and asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. One evening, after praying to God for help, the thought came to me that true home and companionship are ideas of God and therefore always present, just as God is, and that I could not be separated from these ideas. Peace came over me, and I was able to sleep restfully for the first time in three weeks. For days thereafter I felt God's presence with me at every step. I was conscious of it the first thing upon awakening in the morning and the last thing upon falling asleep at night.

There were many dark hours before the healing was completed, but the darkness was dispelled step by step. One statement by Mrs. Eddy that helped me was this one in her book "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 101): "If God is All, and God is good, it follows that all must be good; and no other power, law, or intelligence can exist." This truth brought great comfort and healing.

There were other problems to be overcome. For example, I was told at the employment agency that there were no jobs for women of my age, and it was useless to apply. But I prayed, as taught in Christian Science, to be led to do whatever God had for me to do. When the time came for me to support myself completely, a job was ready for me. It was teaching, and it made it possible for me not only to support myself, but to give to others as well.

I also learned to overcome the feeling of loneliness and grief by relying completely on my understanding that God was with me, rather than looking to mere mingling with other people, or trying to get other things on my mind. I saw I had to stand firm and know that God was the source of my joy and that I didn't have to step out of the house to find it. As a result of this stand, I have found a great measure of joy, and the happy companionship of fine friends as well.

I have been completely healed of the grief, loneliness, and dismay.

The commentary was as follows:

That was most helpful, Mrs. Foster, and I'm sure you have brought comfort and reassurance to many of our listeners. Your experience proves that no matter what the situation may be, no matter how difficult the circumstances or how dark the outlook, there is always a correct solution, there is always a way out.

Many of us at one time or another seem to face situations where everything seems lost and the loss irreplaceable. But whether it is a broken home, the passing of a loved one, or what appears to be inescapable misfortune, there is always a satisfactory answer; and it is always within our reach. The victory may not come overnight, but Christian Science shows us that it can always be won by gaining a deeper understanding of God and of His great love for His children, and by learning that the man of God's creating can never be separated from God. For it is the power of God alone that binds up wounds, heals grief, and restores true joy and peace.

When you solve your problems by understanding God, this does not mean ignoring or merely trying to forget an unpleasant or tragic situation. Nor does it require that you stand by passively, waiting for time to replace the loss or heal the hurt. No; Christian Science teaches that the way to solve any human problem is to work it out courageously through a spiritual understanding of how God's unfailing law of harmony meets the human need. The Master, Christ Jesus, did just this. He faced problems from the standpoint of the goodness and ever-presence of God, and solved them because he understood man's God-given dominion as the spiritual likeness of God.

The Bible represents God as saying, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." What really comforts, consoles, and supports us in time of need is the understanding that regardless of outward appearances, God, divine Love, is always at hand, tenderly caring for all His creation. And so you are never really alone because, in reality, you are always in the very presence of God. And because God forever imparts unlimited good to man, your true existence can never become a void, can never be shattered or lost.

The understanding that divine Love forever maintains and protects all His children brings that peace of God which, Paul tells us, "passeth all understanding." As you claim man's everlasting unity with God, you begin to see that man's true existence is spiritual, not material, and therefore cannot come to an end, and that his true peace, harmony, and joy cannot be interrupted or invaded.

You may recall that the turning point in our guest's experience came when she learned, through Christian Science, that true home and companionship are ideas of God, that they are spiritual, always present, just as God is. She told you she felt God's presence with her at every step, from the earliest hours in the morning to the last thing before falling asleep at night. It is such persistent, inspired prayer that leads to correction of whatever seems lacking in our lives.

And so you can know that the real man is never homeless, because he lives in God, where every need is supplied. He is never without right companionship, because man in reality is the object of God's love and therefore is forever loving and loved. You can reason that man is never cut off from true income, because Spirit. God. is the source of all true supply, and spiritual man is inseparable from Spirit.

In this way your experience can be transformed, uplifted, and brought into harmony with God's law of unlimited good. Your need is met. not by losing yourself in social affairs or taking a trip to try to forget the past, but by proving that, under God's government, every need of man is already supplied. Thus, step by step, you prove the comforting truth of this statement by Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 574): "The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares."

The musical selection on the program was "Softly and Tenderly" composed by Will L. Thompson.

I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.—Isaiah 41:13.