I write this testimony with a heart filled with gratitude to God for Christian Science. My parents became students of this religion when I was a little girl, and my sister and I were enrolled in the Sunday School. In my teens I decided I didn't need Christian Science or to learn about God, so I quit Sunday School and did not attend church regularly.

Several years later I was married, and found that as challenges increased in my life I did indeed need to know more of God to be happy and well. I had always been a very fearful person, and at the time our two small sons were at the ages of seven and four I had what appeared to be a nervous breakdown, aggravated by a deep fear of heart trouble. I was unable to care for my family or home, and unhappy, depressing thoughts were constantly with me. I felt God had completely abandoned me, and as a result I was filled with resentment and bewilderment. I even attempted to take my own life.

My husband was not a Christian Scientist when we were married, but prior to this mental breakdown he had seen many healings in our family through prayer in Christian Science. Therefore he encouraged me to turn to God for healing. Although the situation seemed hopeless, I finally decided I would take a stand and wholeheartedly lean on God for help. The Holy Bible, and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, became my constant source of inspiration and hope. I found I needed much mental "housecleaning" to root out fear, impatience, hatred, self-will, self-love, and—perhaps my worst enemy—criticism!

During this time I was confined to our home. My husband took the children to all their school activities, and to Sunday School every Sunday, in addition to holding down a demanding job with a large corporation. Always he remained loving and firm in the confidence that we would conquer this problem through the power of Truth. And we did!

My complete healing came after a period of years. I had been awakening from the dream that man is mortal and lives in a material body. Gradually I had stopped struggling to get well, and my goal in life became that of spiritualizing my thought. Each day was a challenge to express Godlike qualities to the best of my understanding. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 445): "Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with Truth and Love, and illustrates the unlabored motion of the divine energy in healing the sick." By applying Christian Science to my everyday life I found my fears began to subside. The sunshine of Truth flooded my consciousness, and suddenly I could laugh and be happy, feeling joy I had never known before.

In the spring of 1972, I knew I had been awakened from this dream of mental illness. Also all the morbid symptoms of heart trouble had been healed. Immediately I picked up my normal activity as if the confinement had never taken place. I am able to drive a car again, accept positions in the church, take care of our large home, and keep up with two active boys. I've learned that stamina, strength, and health are truly a direct outcome of Godlike thinking and are not in matter.

My love for God, Christ Jesus, and Mrs. Eddy is constantly growing.

(Mrs.) Joyce L. Coston
Dover, New Jersey

I am most grateful to verify my wife's healing. While this was primarily her battle to prove man's dominion over error, it was also a testing time of my understanding of God. When I finally learned to be expectant of good rather than evil, to "trust the Eternal" completely, as Hymn No. 359 in the Christian Science Hymnal tells us, joy returned to my life. This awakening happened several years before my wife's complete healing. Our whole family learned to be more grateful for God, for each other as ideas of God, for our home, and for each step of progress in this healing. I know now that there is no problem big or small that cannot be completely healed through a right understanding of God as taught in Christian Science.

Robert F. Coston