I Was eight years old when my mother was told about the Church of Christ, Scientist, and the Christian Science Sunday School. She decided that my sister and I should attend Sunday School. For the next twelve years I enjoyed being taught from the Bible and the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.

I became a member of a branch church and The Mother Church. However, six years later my husband and I decided that the distance to church was too far to travel with three small children, so we began attending a church of a different denomination near home.

A few years later our fourth son was born. When he was two weeks old, I was told by a doctor that there was something wrong with his left leg. Three months later there was no improvement, and I was informed that the baby must wear two terry toweling nappies instead of the usual one. The doctor explained that this was to force his leg into the proper position for the bone to fit into the pelvic area correctly.

A few weeks later we were sent to the hospital for X-rays. Our son was then fitted with a rubber splint to wear over his nappy. The child appeared very unhappy and uncomfortable, and I was unhappy to see him like that. I remember asking the doctor how our son would be able to sit up wearing the splint. He replied that if I wanted him to walk, I must forget about his sitting up for a while.

Many visits to the hospital had to be made over the next months. Eventually the child was measured for a splint which fastened with leather straps and buckles and held his knees back.

It was at that point that I asked myself, "Why am I letting our little son, my whole family, and myself go through all this when I know there is a better way?" I picked up my copy of Science and Health again and began reading, but I knew I needed additional help. I took our son and called at the home of a Christian Science practitioner. She listened to my story and then spoke confidently of healing in Christian Science.

It was Sunday when we visited the practitioner. On Tuesday I received a letter from her. It included a quotation from II Timothy: "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." When I read this Bible passage, all fear left me and I took the splint off our son. My husband was in agreement with this decision.

In the three weeks before we were scheduled to return to the doctor to have our son examined, many letters passed between the practitioner and me. With her prayerful assistance, we worked with the spiritual truth that God's man remains perfect as the Father has made him perfect. Spiritual perfection was foremost in our thoughts. A hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal was of great help to me. One verse reads:

Knowing that "Love's work and Love must fit" helped me view our son through spiritual sense as expressing "the form divinely fair."

From Science and Health I was given this statement to study: "The divine Mind, which forms the bud and blossom, will care for the human body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal interfere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of erring, human concepts."

When it was time for the examination, my husband and I took our son to the hospital. The child had an X-ray and was then examined by the doctor. The doctor turned to us and said, "His hips are perfectly all right." He asked me to hold our son's hands and walk him across the room. The smile on the doctor's face needed no words. Our son was discharged from the hospital, and six days later he walked unaided.

This all took place in 1971. Our son plays football, walks long distances, and has not been limited in any way.

I am deeply grateful for continued spiritual progress since this healing occurred, for many years as an active member of a local branch church, and for the benefit of Christian Science class instruction.

Christine Mary Sturrock
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

As the husband mentioned in the testimony above, I am pleased to confirm that everything written in the testimony is true.

Iain A. Sturrock