Article December 16, 1911 Issue

"PERFECT LOVE CASTETH OUT FEAR."

ELFIE M. MILES.

Among the experiences of the past year and a half are some of the most beautiful which have come to me in Christian Science. Two of these especially, when recalled, never fail to awaken anew feelings of wonder and deep gratitude. Wonder, because both accomplishments had always seemed utterly impossible; and gratitude, because in each time of need God, infinite Love, most tenderly revealed to me His willingness and ability to care for us if we but trust Him.

Having accepted a position as teacher in a western town, and having made a long and expensive trip to reach my destination, I learned soon after my arrival that an examination was required, as the certificate which I held was not good in that state. Only one who has suffered from the same dread of examinations as that which held me can fully realize what this requirement meant to me. My certificate had been granted some time before this, and most of my teaching had been in the primary department. I had often thought that if it should ever become necessary for me to take the complete examination again, I would be compelled to allow myself several months for study, in order to meet this ordeal. So utterly impossible did it seem to go through it without having reviewed a single subject, that I decided to hand in my resignation, and after finishing the month already begun to do something else until I felt better prepared for an examination.

Upon receiving my resignation, the county superintendent immediately replied, urging me to keep the place. She asked me to try the examinations, and at last, after a desperate struggle, I decided to do so. Only a few days remained before the time set, and in them I did what I could toward reviewing the subjects involved. Many times this line from one of our hymns came to me: "I do the little I can do, and leave the rest to Thee," and before starting to a near-by town where the examinations were to be held, a victory over fear was realized and a complete surrender of all human striving was replaced by humble trust in God. A very sweet part of this experience was my association with another teacher, who also expected to take the examinations, and to discover, while studying together one evening, that she, too, was a Christian Scientist. In the fuller understanding which Christian Science gives of the one Mind, she like myself was confidently trusting God to bring about that which was best for all concerned. In due time a certificate was sent me, and the standings which could have been better were nevertheless satisfactory; indeed, they were so far above what I had thought possible that gratitude and humility too deep for words filled my heart.

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