Some years ago, I had plantar warts on the bottom of one foot. They were ugly and sometimes painful. Over a period of months, I prayed off and on for healing.

During this time, I took Christian Science class instruction, a 12-lesson course on spiritual healing. As a result of what I was learning in the class, I found myself praying more deeply about healing. My thoughts were moving in a new, spiritual direction. I saw the need of dropping thoughts and actions that weren't progressive. In a way, it was like the beginning of a "thought makeover" —a remodeling of my outlook. Those two weeks made a tremendous difference in my life.

Afterward I continued to pray for a healing of the warts. One day I came across an article in a women's magazine about plantar warts. It talked about medical procedures, particularly surgery, for getting rid of them. It also said that even with surgery, it was likely the warts would reappear. This didn't jibe at all with what I'd just been learning about spiritual healing. I rebelled, especially since my family and I had already had wonderful healings through prayer, and because I was continuing to grow in my understanding of what was possible to God.

One evening, when I was studying Science and Health, I came across this passage: "As the crude footprints of the past disappear from the dissolving paths of the present, we shall better understand the Science which governs these changes, and shall plant our feet on firmer ground" (p. 224). This was literally what I felt had happened to me through class instruction. I had begun to leave behind past thinking—fear, a false concept of myself as material and vulnerable, limited views of God. Now I was on a new path leading to healing. I was relying more on God for help and guidance, and less on people and circumstances. This statement moved me to see that the Science of the Christ, which was the power behind Jesus' marvelous healings, is present to heal now. It is provable in all situations. It was becoming more and more apparent to me that through scientific prayer, I would find the specific healing ideas I needed. I felt so close to God, and loved by Him.

Within a week, the warts completely disappeared. Then a few years later, my daughter, Sarah, developed plantar warts on the bottom of her feet. I talked with her about my healing. We also read the passage from Science and Health that had been so helpful to me. In a very short time, as we prayed, my daughter was also healed of the warts.

These healings, and others, were proving to me that Christian Science is effective for healthcare because it is reliable.

Years later, my son, Christian, developed many warts on his hands and the bottom of one foot. We prayed together, though at first without immediate results.

One Sunday morning as we were driving home from church, the thought came to me with an emphatic certainty that these warts hadn't come from God, and therefore that Christian simply did not have to suffer from them. Listening for more healing ideas, which I knew God was continously communicating to me, I remembered that the Creator of all couldn't make anything unlike Himself, who is all good.

I asked the children to pray silently with me, and to expect healing. The three of us were quiet for the rest of the short trip home. How often had we proved that we could count on God to eradicate the feeling that we were imperfect or diseased! And we could do so now.

In just a few days, the warts began to disappear, and after a couple of weeks, Christian showed no sign of them. His skin was clean and clear. I remember that I couldn't even recollect which foot had been affected.

Neither my daughter nor I have ever had another wart. Christian had one appear on a finger, but I prayed with an idea from Science and Health: "An improved belief cannot retrograde. When Christ changes a belief of sin or of sickness into a better belief, then belief melts into spiritual understanding, and sin, disease, and death disappear" (p. 442). That wart also disappeared quickly, and there have been none since.

I am deeply grateful for the power of prayer, and especially for the freedom it brings.

Kay Keelor
Flint, Michigan