For many years I have realized the importance of Christian Science healing. My parents joined a branch of Christ, Scientist, when I was a junior in high school. Shortly after that I was married and found myself drifting away because I had not fully understood the truths taught in Science. However, I always attended church on Sunday and sent my children to a Christian Science Sunday School, and we did rely on Christian Science for healings, never using drugs or pills of any kind.

When our son was born, the attending physician and others said he would not live long enough to be weighed, so they did not weigh him for six days, and then he was only two pounds and nine ounces. His hospital bracelet was loose on his ankle, and now it just fits my small finger.

I knew I had to put our child in God's care completely. After he had been in the nursery six weeks, they moved him to the pediatrics ward. He caught a severe cold, so that when I took him home at five pounds he was very congested. The second night home his breathing was fitful, and we called the attending physician, who came to our home and very graciously offered to take the baby and us right back to the hospital. The doctor said, "That baby needs oxygen and penicillin." He called the nurse to prepare an incubator.

I had been praying very seriously about this. I dressed the baby, but somehow just couldn't take him back to the hospital. The doctor was very concerned. He said, "That baby is dying and won't live through the night." I prayed the more to do what was the right thing for all concerned and knew God could save my child. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10) is the Bible verse I used to still material planning. I thanked the doctor for his kindness, and as soon as he closed the door, I called a Christian Science practitioner. I only had to call once more at two in the morning, and the baby resumed his normal breathing both times.

My gratitude to God knew no bounds, and I could hardly wait to join a branch church and to take up the study and practice of Christian Science. Today this young man is over six feet tall, and he has relied on Christian Science for all his needs. "God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being" (Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, p. 63).

Every day presents opportunities to interest others in this wonderful Science, which Jesus taught and practiced. I am ever grateful for Mrs. Eddy for giving us the rules and the law of God to follow in the textbook, Science and Health.

People are hungry for these truths, which are available today for everyone to love and enjoy. I am grateful, too, for our faithful practitioners all over the world, for class instruction, for the healing lectures, and for the many other activities we have to help us understand God better.

(Mrs.) Alice Otrey Thompson
Seattle, Washington