I feel so grateful for Christian Science because through it I have found God.

One day several years ago a friend suggested we attend a Christian Science church service. I had been reading many books about religions and was eager to learn about God. I was searching for a deeper meaning to life, but I hadn't really found it. So we went. And we continued to go. I liked the quiet order of the Sunday service and listened intently to what was read from the Bible and from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. One member was especially friendly every time I came. She even gave me a subscription to The Christian Science Monitor, which touched me deeply. Then I borrowed copies of the Bible and Science and Health from a Christian Science Reading Room and began regular study of the weekly Bible Lessons outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly.

Soon I was also reading Mrs. Eddy's other writings. Sometimes I would read a section of the Bible Lesson and just think about it the rest of the day. During this time I felt I was being changed within, and I loved the direction Christian Science was bringing to my life. I read testimonies in the Sentinel about people experiencing the healing presence of God. I really longed to feel this closeness.

A Christian Scientist lived a couple of miles down the mountain road my cabin was on. Sundays I'd walk to her house singing hymns, and we would go to church together. One day when I came to her house, she looked at me with such love and compassion; I had poison oak and had put lotion all over it. I asked her if she would pray for me and she said yes. We first agreed that the lotion couldn't heal me, so I washed it off. Then as she talked about how God is Love and loved me, and wouldn't create anything to hurt me, I suddenly felt fine! The anxiety and itching were gone. In a few days the rash cleared up entirely.

And what had I felt in this healing? It was the presence of God! Not only did I love the truth of Christian Science, but God, Truth, loved me as His child. Soon I joined The Mother Church and the local branch Church of Christ, Scientist, whose members overflowed with Christliness and love.

Some time after this, a lump appeared on my arm. I asked a branch church member to pray for me. A difficult relationship problem had just been resolved, and my friend indicated my need now was to be healed of resentment. She also assured me that God, divine Love, could and would dissolve the lump. As I yielded to the Christ's healing power, all resentment left and the lump dissolved in a few days. My friend and I were both deeply grateful to God.

Later, I wanted to take Christian Science class instruction and prayed about it for three or four years. Then I applied and was accepted. One day before going through class, while I was working in the Reading Room, a woman came in and offered me a leather-bound copy of Science and Health, saying she wanted someone to have it who would love it. I was delighted to accept the gift. At the time I didn't have the means to buy a matching Bible, but the thought came, "Why not trust your heavenly Father with this?" OK, I thought. God loves me and will provide all I need for class—all I need to understand more of Him through Christian Science. When I arrived home there was an unexpected refund check in the mail for the exact amount needed. I was so amazed!

Trustingly, I ordered a leather-bound copy of Mrs. Eddy's Prose Works a few weeks later. That day I received a letter saying I was getting a pay raise. The raise not only covered the amount owed on the book, but it also provided enough money to pay for class. I certainly was learning something of God's all-inclusive provision for me—and everyone!

Since taking class instruction I have felt more deeply God's presence and supremacy. Realizing this in some degree has really changed my life.

For a while one time I felt afraid and was in pain while at work. I prayed to understand that there is only one Life, Mind, expressing itself in all real individuality, rather than a collection of minds expressing themselves in conflicting personalities; that I was governed by and expressed this one, immortal Mind. Science and Health states (p.487), "The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality." This spiritual fact was what I wanted to understand.

Then one day while I was in the Reading Room, looking at an article in the Sentinel, I felt an overwhelming sense of God's presence, almost as though He were saying to me, "Your life is My Life, and I am holding you in it." At that moment, the fear and pain left! Since then, when confronted with such situations, I can much more easily look beyond them to feel the supreme care of God and recognize my own and others' Christliness.

It is wonderful that Christian Science can gradually and lovingly awaken us all to feel our closeness with God as His children.

SUSAN ELEANOR ROWE
Garberville, California