I should like to relate the following...

Anna Jacoba Grets

I should like to relate the following experience. On the morning of September 17, 1944, there was great unrest in Arnhem. Everywhere in the vicinity parachutists were coming down, the whole sky was filled with planes, and the sirens sounded almost continuously. My friend and I were living on the third floor, and we had been downstairs several times. Finally we thought it best to read the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly together as we had been accustomed to do on Sunday. Church services had been forbidden; but the Lesson-Sermon was always smuggled in to us from either Denmark or America. This particular Lesson-Sermon included the story of Elijah on Mount Horeb, which states in substance that God is not in the strong wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in "a still small voice."

A few minutes later the barracks which were directly behind our house were bombed. Our whole house shook, and the walls swayed back and forth. The other tenants feared that we should be hit, but we were supported by the knowledge that the blast had no power, that God was not in this hell, but in the spiritual quiet and calm which we had sensed during our study of the Lesson. This consciousness enabled us throughout the bombing to repeat the Lord's Prayer, and we came through all right, at the same time feeling enriched by our mental experience.

The spiritual assurance we gained helped us time and again during the seven months that we were in the thick of the battle. We remained at peace; we were able to study our Lesson-Sermon daily; and we were conscious of a great sense of protection for ourselves and others. After Arnhem was evacuated we were quartered with thirteen other people in the home of a young couple. Although we of course differed much from one another, yet harmony prevailed among us, so that it became an unforgettable experience. After our return to Arnhem we received much love and assistance from all sides.

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