The study of Christian Science has brought me out of darkness and into the warm sunshine of learning more of who I really am as a child of God. And I must express my gratitude for this wonderful change in my life.

When I was in high school many years ago, before I'd ever heard of Christian Science, I began to suffer from seizures. At the time I learned to live with them. But finally, when I was in my twenties, I visited a doctor, and after a series of tests, he told me that the problem was epilepsy. He prescribed medicine which contained forms of barbiturates, and I began a long period of years of taking these pills and relying on them.

I first learned of Christian Science from an employer. Soon after, I had an overnight healing of a cold, with the help of a Christian Science practitioner—which was a real eye-opener. I had to find out more about this teaching. I then visited a Christian Science Reading Room, where I could ask questions and read about the possibility of being healed by God. Later I talked to a practitioner who was helpful in my search for an understanding of my true, spiritual being. This understanding, I knew, would enable me to live a truly normal life, without having to depend on prescribed drugs.

Twice after I started studying Science, I tried to stop the medication. But each time fear would drive me back to the pills. (I had once been told by a paramedic that if I stopped taking the medication, it could prove fatal.) On the third try, I called a practitioner and explained to him my situation and the fear and asked if he would please give me help.

After receiving his assurances that he would pray for me and that God would take me all the way, I picked up a copy of "God's Law of Adjustment"—a pamphlet published by The Christian Science Publishing Society that had been given me. These words stood out: "When we in our helplessness reach the point where we see we are unable of ourselves to do anything, and then call upon God to aid us; when we are ready to show our willingness to abandon our own plans, our own opinions, our own sense of what ought to be done under the circumstances, and have no fear as to the consequences—then God's law will take possession of and govern the whole situation." It was then that I decided to turn the whole thing over to God—because I surely did feel helpless. I thought, "I don't know if I'll live through the night, but I'm putting my life in His hands." Then a sense of peace came over me, and I knew that all was indeed well.

During the night, I woke up feeling anxious a number of times, but immediately the sense of peace would return and I was able to go back to sleep, still trusting God completely. The next morning I was free.

This all happened more than five years ago and I have been free ever since. My gratitude for this demonstration of the healing power of Truth is unlimited. How thankful I am to have had Christian Science class instruction and to be learning and coming to trust the great truth that God never created disease of any kind and therefore we can be free and well.

Mary T. Herzing Riviera Beach, Florida