At a time when the Asian flu was being widely publicized, I heard on the news an account of the symptoms. That evening one of our small children evidenced these symptoms. My husband and I both prayed for her until she was able to go to sleep.

When I went to bed some time later, however, I lay awake for a while, mentally wrestling with the specific beliefs associated with this illness and earnestly trying to hold to the truth that God and man are ever at one. Finally I went to sleep, only to be wakened later that night by our daughter's crying. When I went to the child's room, I found her delirious.

As I prayed, a passage that I had been studying and thinking about from The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany by Mary Baker Eddy came to mind (p. 242): "You can never demonstrate spirituality until you declare yourself to be immortal and understand that you are so. Christian Science is absolute; it is neither behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom." I physically turned from the child for a moment and reasoned: Then, this child is a spiritual idea right now!

Immediately the delirium left her, and she went peacefully back to sleep. The next day she continued, completely free, and never even referred to the incident the night before. This healing occurred while I was still a new student of Science. But the spiritual truths I learned at that time have remained for me a bulwark when problems have appeared difficult or healing seemed slow.

After the passing of my husband, it became necessary for me to rear our four children as a single parent. I found Christian Science to be indispensable during this period. There were many problems for me to solve. But there were also wonderful, happy times together, and we found that when we applied our understanding of Science to troubled situations, the results were inevitably harmonious. These included healings of illnesses, the effects of accidents, financial difficulties, and drug problems.

One daughter, as a child, had usually endeavored to be good, and expressed many fine, Christlike qualities. I found myself confronting an entirely different situation, however, when she was in her early teens. She began using marijuana on a daily basis, occasionally used LSD along with other hallucinogenic drugs, and seemed oblivious to all sense of morality.

During this time I prayed for the family each day and had the help of a Christian Science practitioner. The problem persisted and, at times, even seemed to get worse, but I continued in my prayerful efforts because I knew there was an answer and wanted above all to see the truth of my daughter as God's child.

The physical changes and behavioral adjustments came quite quickly and wonderfully when a radical change had taken place in my thinking as well as my daughter's. On the phone one day, the practitioner, who had been supporting me through prayer, stated the need to see that God is All and that there is nothing beside Him. It occurred to me to look up and carefully consider all the references to the word "God" in the Concordance to Mrs. Eddy's writings. This study included references to the seven synonyms for God that Mrs. Eddy gives us in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures plus about sixty words that describe or refer to God. It took me months to complete this study, but when I had reached the end of the list, my understanding of God and His creation had certainly grown and my outlook had greatly expanded.

Soon after this, my daughter stopped all use of drugs and began attending the Christian Science Sunday School again. A dramatic character change had taken place. She is now a Christian Science graduate nurse, with a fine husband and two lovely daughters—all of whom faithfully rely on the teachings of Science. Isn't God great!

My gratitude for the teachings of Christ Jesus is boundless. They are the foundation upon which Mrs. Eddy established the Church of Christ, Scientist, and are of tremendous value to me. I am grateful for class teaching in Christian Science and for a teacher who followed Mrs. Eddy's admonition in Science and Health (p. 454): "Do not dismiss students at the close of a class term, feeling that you have no more to do for them. Let your loving care and counsel support all their feeble footsteps, until your students tread firmly in the straight and narrow way."

JOAN DAVIS PUTNAM
Manchester, Missouri

I am the daughter spoken of in my mother's testimony.

During high school, I began using drugs (marijuana, LSD, etc.) on a daily basis and turned away from everything that I had been taught, ignoring moral values and losing much self-respect in the process. At the time, I could neither seem to think clearly nor bring myself to change my life style.

At one point, I remember thinking it was strange that my mom was always reading "those books." After a period of great depression, I decided one day that I would try to stop taking drugs—at least for a couple of days. When I made this decision, my consciousness was flooded with the words to hymns that I had learned as a child in the Christian Science Sunday School. All effects of drug use were soon healed, and I found I could, for the first time in years, think coherently. I never again had the desire for drugs and renewed at once my study of Christian Science. It felt as though my life had truly changed for the better.

I am so grateful for Christian Science, for my mother's unwavering trust in and obedience to God, and for the dedicated prayer of the practitioner who worked with my mother during this time.