During the years in which our...

Gene H. Utterback

During the years in which our family have endeavored to live the teachings of Christian Science, we have had proofs that man is governed by Principle and that he is not subject to the vagaries of chance. At a time of difficult economic conditions, when jobs were scarce, I needed employment. I requested help in Christian Science of an understanding practitioner, and satisfactory employment came promptly from an unexpected source.

Through the study of Christian Science and with the frequent help of practitioners, our family have been healed of various ills of the flesh and protected in times of impending accident. One night we were awakened by our eight-year-old daughter, who told us that the house was afire and that the flames were coming though the wall in her bedroom. After a brief interval of fright and confusion my wife began to pray as we are taught in Christian Science, and in an incredibly short time the fire had been brought under control with the use of what had appeared to be a woefully inadequate supply of water. When the fire department arrived, there was no fire.

A few years ago, while suffering from an intense pain, I began to recall the many things for which I could be grateful. At that time we had been students of Christian Science for over twenty years. Suddenly I realized that my thoughts of gratitude were not extending to a time prior to our introduction to Christian Science. What a vista was thereby opened up! I could be grateful for having been a member of a family reared by loving, Christian parents, for Mrs. Eddy's divine revelation, for her demonstration of Truth in founding the Christian Science movement, and for her courage and wisdom in protecting her demonstration so that it has remained a vibrant, growing thing that will one day save the world.

Moreover, I could be grateful for the courage of Martin Luther when he said, "Here I stand. I can do no otherwise; so help me God! Amen!" and thereby threw off the yoke of ecclesiastical dictatorship. I could be grateful for the ministries of Peter and Paul and the other apostles, and above all for the life and teachings of Christ Jesus, without which mankind would still be living in the dark ages of unenlightenment. And so in thought I went on back through the corridor of finite time, which has been kept lighted in the memory of mankind by the spiritual inspiration of the prophets and leaders we now study and read about. Needless to say, my awakened sense of gratitude resulted in the eradication of the sense of pain, and I was able to proceed with my normal pursuits.

I am humbly grateful for membership in The Mother Church and a branch church, for class instruction, and for the leaven of Christian Science, which is spreading throughout the world.—Gene H. Utterback, Evanston, Illinois.

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