Two years ago one of our daughters had a very ugly sore appear on her face, and it was spreading rapidly. I called a practitioner for treatment through prayer. Work continued for about a week, but there was no visible improvement. It was vacation time, and we were planning to visit relatives in a nearby state. As we prepared for the trip, I prayed diligently to know if it would be right to go visiting while our daughter had such an apparent problem. As I prayed the morning we were to leave, I began to realize that we were claiming a blessing from God and that all would be blessed. I never doubted the healing power of God, and I knew that the relatives we were to visit would also rejoice in this healing.

As we traveled along, I began to see very clearly the perfection of man in God's image. I could see that this man is not both good and bad, but wholly good. I was beginning to separate in my thought the false concept of man that sense testimony presents as hating and loving, and to see man as the reflection of Love, God, completely loving. The word "hate" kept coming to my thought, and I began working to know there is no power or reality in "hate," for God did not make it and therefore man made in God's image and likeness cannot express it. Mrs. Eddy writes in Miscellaneous Writings (p. 12), "Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads its virus and kills at last."

At this point I handed the child a pencil and paper and asked her to write down the names of all those who came to her thought, and to write down what she thought of each individual. Her teacher at school headed the list, and then she listed some friends, but her thought concerning each one was that they did not like her. Some years before, a Sunday School teacher had told her that hate is poison, and the child recalled this teaching. She saw the need to pray to see each one as the perfect child of God. She knew that as God's child each must love her. She was eager to do her part. We both knew that if the physical condition were to be healed, thinking had to be purified.

In the textbook, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy teaches us (p. 492): "Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree, will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character." I understood the true character of God's child to be Godlike, perfect, loving, and altogether lovely, and that this false sense of our daughter as entertaining hatred or being a target of hatred was simply not true. I became conscious of the allness of God and the nothingness of error. I could mentally sweep every aggressive suggestion away as it came. Many suggestions did come as we drove down the highway, including the suggestion of several medical terms for the condition. Each time I refused to be impressed by these terms and many times declared, "No, I am not afraid of that either." Then came the suggestion to put just a "dab" of alcohol on it. I gave a firm "No, thanks" to this and declared that Christian Science does heal. The tempter was trying to make me believe that alcohol was more powerful than God.

The word "impetigo" came more than any other medical term, and as I prayed more diligently than ever that evening after we had arrived at our destination, Mrs. Eddy's instruction in the textbook on page 411 came to mind. There the thought is brought out that sometimes a disease responds more readily when called by name. As I stood at the foot of the child's bed where she peacefully was sleeping, I knew that she was not in this dream. I then addressed the claim and declared it had no power, no mind, no substance, and could not feed upon a spiritual idea. I felt completely at peace and went to bed. The next morning the child's face was clear. Not a trace of the condition remained, nor was there a scar.

I am indeed grateful for this proof of the healing efficacy of Christian Science and the spiritual growth made during this experience. I will be ever grateful to the practitioner who stood by me with her prayers day and night until this healing was evidenced. I am grateful beyond words for Christ Jesus and his example to us and for Mrs. Eddy. Class instruction is one of my richest blessings.

(Mrs.) Mary Elizabeth Ison
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma