Testimony of Healing June 26, 1971 Issue

Following my induction into the Army, I found myself in a situation...

H. Sheldon Thompson, Camilla Cameron Thompson

Following my induction into the Army, I found myself in a situation for which I felt completely unprepared in a world totally alien to my outlook on life. I was very much tempted to feel I was at the mercy of arbitrary human will, and often, to me, seemingly irrational orders.

During my initial eight weeks of training I held to the Biblical truth that God is in the still small voice, not in the earthquake, wind, or fire (see I Kings 19:12). Part of the definition of Mind which Mrs. Eddy gives in Science and Health helped to show me that I was under God's government and was not a victim of chance or human will (p. 591): "Deity, which outlines but is not outlined." I realized my job was to be an expression of God's affluence in the place of His appointing and stopped outlining where or in what type of position I should be.

At the end of my basic training, when the members of my unit received orders for advanced training, I discovered I wasn't to have any additional schooling. Instead, I was assigned a permanent party post in a unit and duty assignment for which I seemingly had no training. It was a highly specialized assignment—one which persons of my qualifications would normally never receive. I continued to know that God was unfolding my place, and when I reported to my new company, I was given an assignment, contrary to what appeared on my initial orders, in an area of my previous civilian training and interests. In addition, I was accorded all the benefits granted to those working in my initial assignment. I was relieved of all normal troop duties (KP, guard duty, etc.), wore civilian tie and jacket for my forty-hour workweek, and, though still a private, was billeted in officers' quarters.

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