When I was eleven, one afternoon my mother returned home from the laundromat with a magazine for me. She'd found it in a Christian Science literature distribution box. It was an issue of the Sentinel. I can remember reading it and thinking how beautiful the articles were. I asked to visit the Christian Science Sunday School. Soon I was enrolled as a regular pupil, and I continued attending until the age of twenty. I will always be grateful for the dedicated teachers who patiently taught me how to turn to God for the meeting of my needs. Their inspiration and love have been a beacon to me through the years.

The blessings I've received through the study and application of the truths of Science are many. Most remarkable, however, are the healings my husband and I have witnessed in the raising of our son. I would like to share a few of these in this testimony.

One morning our son woke up in distress, feeling feverish and ill. He recently had been playing with a little friend who later had developed chicken pox, and our son appeared to be manifesting symptoms of the disease. A Christian Science practitioner was called to pray for the boy. Her words were comforting and reassuring. She spoke to me of man's inherent innocence and freedom as God's child. And she assured me that our son's true nature was untouched by beliefs of inharmony and sickness. We talked but a short time. As I hung up the phone, the child's crying stopped. In a few minutes my husband and I heard happy chattering, and a pair of bright eyes peeked out from behind the kitchen door. Our son ate a big breakfast and had a busy day playing. The difficulty had been completely healed.

At one time when a relative was staying with us, her two children were suffering from a condition that had been diagnosed by a doctor as pinkeye. Medication had been prescribed for the children but had afforded them no relief.

Several days after the arrival of our relatives, our son appeared to show signs of the eye condition. I called a practitioner to pray for him. After talking with the practitioner, I felt a false sense of responsibility, confusion, and pressure lift from my thought. Within a day our son's eyes were perfectly clear.

Late one night our son woke with a sore throat and cough. The coughing was very painful and caused him to cry. I talked to him about God's love for him. He quieted down and listened. But soon the coughing started up again and so did the tears. I stayed at his side, protesting in prayer the suggestion of suffering. This was never God's plan for man; therefore it couldn't be true.

Turning to the Lord's Prayer, with its spiritual interpretation given in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, I carefully pondered each line. A warm, peaceful sense of God's presence filled the room. Then I came to the last part (p. 17):

My consciousness was flooded with light. I absolutely knew God was the only power. When I next looked at our son, he was sleeping. He woke in the morning perfectly well.

I am also grateful for an instantaneous healing of a painful earache and a very quick healing of boils.

The last lines of No. 216 in the Christian Science Hymnal have always been an inspiration to me. They speak of God's great gift to each one of His children: "All good for you His wisdom planned; / O trust in God and understand."

GLORIA LEE KILPATRICK
San Bernardino, California

I am happy to verify that these healings took place exactly as my wife has described them. Christian Science has been a blessing to our family for many years. We are all very grateful.

JON THEODORE KILPATRICK

The Mother Church is The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. Its branches are called Churches of Christ, Scientist, and Christian Science Societies.