I'd just returned from Christian Science class instruction, when our son told me about a hearing problem his son, Ashley, was having. (Our son, his wife, and our grandson had been staying with us for a year while our son attended school.) A hearing test had been given to Ashley at preschool, and the results were very poor. Before our grandson could return to school, he needed to be examined by a physician, and a form, required by the state health department, had to be filled out.

On learning this, I unpacked my books and went off to find a quiet corner. There I began to apply my newfound understanding of Christian Science treatment to this problem.

All right, I thought, the assumption is that Ashley is hard of hearing. (How many times he had had earaches, and how many times I had stood right next to him and been obliged to repeat and repeat a statement.)

Our daughter-in-law had taken our grandson to a doctor and was using medicine that he prescribed to alleviate the pain of the earaches. However, there was no healing—the earaches kept recurring. It was only now, when our son feared that an ear operation might be in the offing, that he turned to Christian Science and to me for help.

As I sat thinking about the qualities of God, a message came—loud and clear: "Don't assume imperfection where perfection exists. Remember the hotel."

When I had arrived at the hotel where I stayed during class instruction, it had looked like a cave. The clerk at the desk apologized and explained that when the electricity had been shut off to do some repair work, the standby generator had malfunctioned. That night at bedtime, I noticed two switches by the door. With a flip of one of the switches, much to my surprise, all the lights in the bedroom came on. Under normal conditions, as soon as I reached my room, I would have looked for and tried those switches. But under the circumstances, I had just continued to assume a malfunctioning electrical system. This was a great illustration to me of assuming imperfection when in reality only perfection exists.

Now I began looking for evidences of Ashley's God-given perfection and, one by one, I mentally checked off a list of synonyms for God and ways in which Ashley expressed them. For example: Love—how loving he was. With arms outstretched, our four-year-old always had a good-night or goodbye kiss for Grandma and Grandpa. Truth—two or three times I thought that I had caught him lying, but each time I was proved wrong. Mind—how bright, curious, and observant he was. Finally, going back to the source, I saw Ashley as God's wholly spiritual child—His image and likeness—perfect in every way. At that moment I felt a sense of peace.

The next day, our son took Ashley to the doctor. He was examined at length. Afterward the doctor said that he'd done every possible test and that he could find nothing wrong with Ashley's hearing.

There have been no more earaches. And our grandson's hearing is now entirely normal. Where we thought we beheld imperfection, only perfection was present.

Vivian Claypool
Severna Park, Maryland

I wish to verify the statements in my mother's testimony concerning Ashley's healing. The events took place just as she has stated.

Jeffrey Claypool
Arnold, Maryland