Mary Baker Eddy

Mary Baker Eddy S. A. Bowers / [Public Domain] via Wikimedia

Mary Baker Eddy expressed bravery, ingenuity, and courage throughout her life. She helped cure many people through her teachings, beliefs, and her actions. Heroes find themselves by searching for what they believe in and what they know is right. Mary Baker Eddy pursued what she believed in by discovering Christian Science, which is the religion that I have been following all my life.

Mary Baker Eddy Unknown author / [Public Domain] via Wikimedia

Mary Baker Eddy was born July 16, 1821. She was chronically ill for the majority of her life. Christian Scientists don't believe in disease, so they wouldn’t give her ailment a name. Her mother, Abigail Ambrose, and brother, Albert Baker, were very encouraging and helpful. Mary’s mother prayed for her and that comforted Mary when she was sick. Praying for her daughter constantly, she was a big influence on Mary’s strong sense of prayer and guidance. Albert stayed home with Mary and was able to study with her and help with her schoolwork. She started to experiment with many different practices hoping to find a cure. These practices included homeopathy and Phineas Quimby’s theory. He believed in healing mentally and spiritually. Mary went to him, and then discovered that she didn’t believe in what he was teaching. Quimby believed in mesmerism and disease, and he taught that in order to destroy the disease, you needed to realize what it is and what caused it, in essence, believing that it is real. This was not something Mary believed.

Falling on her back in 1866, Mary severely hurt herself. She was bedridden and it was said that she would not recover. She began to read the Bible and she came across one of Jesus’ healings. She was instantaneously healed. Mary Baker Eddy spent the next few years praying and studying spiritual healing. The name of the religion, Christian Science, means the study of Christ. It is the practice of studying what Jesus did and understanding His healings.

Marble Bust of Eddy Luella Varney Serrao / (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr

Spending over four decades writing Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, she composed a book that contained messages of spiritual healing and prayer. She began to teach others how to heal. In 1868, a woman was terminally ill with tuberculosis. The doctor could not help the woman. Mary Baker Eddy came and healed her immediately. The doctor could not explain how such a miracle could happen.

Mary Baker Eddy was one of the first women to stand up for her rights. She was not allowed to speak up in other churches because she was a woman. She then decided to start her own so that she could speak and do good for people. She wrote her own magazines and news articles, a huge breakthrough for women in that time. She even started her own college called The Massachusetts Metaphysical College where people could learn about Christian Science and learn how to heal. Above all of these contributions to the community, her most meaningful piece of writing was Science and Health. This was a book that brought comfort, reassurance and healing to many people in need.

Mary Baker Eddy died in 1910, but her writings and teachings are still being taught today. Thousands of people have witnessed miraculous healings. Mary Baker Eddy was not a new Christ who could magically heal people, she was a woman with the strength of God in her, and she used it to help many people. She is my hero and I’m so grateful for her teachings.