SPEAKER: Probably there's nothing more heartwarming to see or more commendable than the care, thought, and attention that go into making a child's life the happiest, the most wholesome, and the most progressive that can be achieved. Great effort is made to provide children with wholesome living conditions and adequate schooling. After all, what is more natural than for parents to want the very best for their children, not only in terms of home, environment, and education, but in terms of protecting their health and physical well-being.

On the other hand, what is a parent to do if a child has an illness that seems to defy all attempts to remedy it? Or if the child is faced with a handicap that threatens to afflict him for the rest of his life? Just what is a parent to do in such cases?

Christian Scientists have found that there is an answer to such problems. They have found that prayer which relies on God alone— on spiritual means alone—for help can remedy these conditions, not only in cases of emergency, when there is no other help available, but in all questions of health.

Now we're going to give you an example of this. Today we have with us a mother who was healed through spiritual means alone of a condition she'd been afflicted with from birth, one that threatened to be with her for the rest of her life. And later on, her child was healed entirely through prayer of physical deformity he'd been born with.

I'd like to introduce Mrs. Helen Abell, of Monsey, New York, who will tell you these experiences. Suppose you tell us first about your own healing, Mrs. Abell.

MRS. ABELL: Ever since childhood I've seen many beautiful healings as a result of relying on God, keeping close to Him, understanding His ever-presence, power, and love. When I was thirteen, a few years after our family became interested in Christian Science, I went to see a Christian Science practitioner. I went for one reason alone: to learn more of God, divine Love, because my sister and I weren't getting along well together.

As I walked into the practitioner's office, I felt very self-conscious because of an ugly birthmark I'd always had on my face. It was quite large, and the sight of one eye was impaired. But when the practitioner saw me, she smiled and said, "God created His child in His image, without spot and without blemish." We talked for a few minutes, and I felt so uplifted and so radiant. I felt a presence I now know was the ever-present Christ, the eternal healing Truth that Jesus expressed. When I returned home, my mother noticed that the birthmark was entirely gone, and the skin on that side of my face was as soft and white as the other side. The eye trouble was healed too. For the first time, the results of my eye tests were 20-20 vision.

From then on I was firmly rooted in Christian Science. I read and reread Mary Baker Eddy's writings and gradually learned to prove for myself that God's power is always present to help and heal us. I saw this so clearly with our younger son, Peter. You see, when he was just a baby his right foot was deformed. My husband wasn't a Christian Scientist then; so we took the child to a doctor. He said that it was a clubfoot and that a cast, which was needed immediately, was to be worn night and day until Peter was a year old; then he would need a special shoe for at least six years. The doctor said if it hadn't straightened by then, an operation might be needed.

On our way home, my husband asked if I would like to try Christian Science first. But he added that if the baby wasn't healed in three months, we'd follow the doctor's advice. I knew this was an opportunity to prove that God's power does heal.

So as soon as possible, I went to see a practitioner. As I talked with her I told her about many unhappy things that had happened within that last two years. And when I finished, she said, "Let's start with your own thinking; that needs straightening out." Then I realized there was a great deal in the past and the present that needed correcting—family discords were standing in the way of a pure sense of communion with God. So I set about correcting all this by drawing closer to divine Love. I studied the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings every moment I possibly could. My prayer was this Bible verse: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."

I gained a great deal of help from studying the first chapter of Genesis along with what Mrs. Eddy writes about creation in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." This helped me to see that no matter what happened materially, it didn't change the fact that man's real being is spiritual and perfect because man is created in the image of God, divine Spirit. So I found more and more I could look beyond clouded material thinking and know the unchanging perfection of the child of God. For example, when I looked at the foot, and it seemed so ugly, I would realize that the material appearance was not the truth, not actually true of God's child at all.

The practitioner was continuing to help us, and one day after about two months she said: "Christian Science treatment is effective. We must now expect to see the evidence of it." On the way home I found myself praying, "O God, help me to see this child as You created him."

That same night I felt a great desire to get even closer to God. So I spent most of the night studying and praying. One thing I turned to was Mrs. Eddy's statement of man in Science and Health which begins (p. 475): "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God."

Finally I had a wonderful sense of the ever-presence of God. I felt the baby was healed, and I knew why. I'll never forget the holiness of that moment. When I got Peter up the next morning, the foot seemed just the same; but this didn't bother me. I took him to see the practitioner and told her, "I know he's healed." She stretched out her arms to him, and he took several steps over to her. We both just cried with rejoicing because the baby's foot began to be straight. When my husband came home that evening, he noticed it right away. The foot was never crooked again, and of course, Peter's a perfectly normal boy today. He loves to hike and ice skate and do all sorts of things outdoors. So you can see why I have such great confidence in God's healing power.

SPEAKER: Yes, I can, Mrs. Abell. And we appreciate what you've told us today.

Friends, these experiences are only two of thousands of verified healings brought about entirely through spiritual means—through prayer based on an adequate understanding of God's all-power. They confirm the promise of Christ Jesus, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

The musical selection on the program was Hymn No. 374 from the Christian Science Hymnal (We thank Thee and we bless Thee).