So, you think you've reached the end of your tether? Gone as far as you can go? Mortal sense tells us we're tied to a limited, chancy experience, sometimes smooth, sometimes rough. This false sense of life in matter persuades us we can take so much and no more—that we have a breaking point!

Where in an infinite spiritual creation could there possibly be a breaking point? Christian Science teaches us that God made man neither breakable nor expendable, but absolutely indestructible, immortal, and enduring.

In the human experience trials and testing times compel us to rise above the belief that we can be subject to such impositions into the understanding that God never inflicts adversity on His idea, man. Mrs. Eddy tells us, "Trials are proofs of God's care." ^{Science and Health, p. 66;}

Before major engineering works are carried out, various materials to be used are pretested for strength in a laboratory. Stresses and strains are imposed to ascertain the breaking point of the particular substance concerned. That it does always have a breaking point is characteristic of a material substance. On the other hand, Christian Science puts to the test and demonstrates through metaphysical healing the complete durability of man, his eternal, spiritual substance, his indestructible nature as the very expression of divine Life.

Whatever stresses we seem subjected to in the business of everyday living can serve to strengthen our faith, courage, and trust and to anchor our thought more in the reality of man's everlasting spiritual selfhood. You might say everyday living itself is the laboratory, and its strains and sharp experiences are the testing instruments. But remember, this testing should result not in breakdown but in demonstration of our freedom from the false belief of being subject to breaking down.

Man in God's image is eternally strong. He endures because he cannot help enduring—and is no more subject to stress than is God, his source. Man expresses the continuity of Life. Right where you think you've reached the end of your fragile tether, there is the true tie—man's unity with God—which binds us to all His inexhaustible goodness and strength. Never in any danger of snapping, this tie assures us of unlimited horizons, freedom, and unending opportunity.

If you feel, "That's all very well, but nobody has ever had to face such severe circumstances as I'm facing," then it's time to face the fact that your heavenly Father has never put you in such a situation. You need to view yourself in the true looking glass—the Science of Soul's perfection and freedom.

Divine Life with its strength and might is the ever-vitalizing source of man's every thought and act, and this fact recognized will blot out any suggestion of discouragement. We can't be broken down unless we first think this a possibility and surrender to the argument that our true substance is something other than Spirit.

Knowing ourselves to be forever one with the divine source of all strength and goodness will carry us through trying times, elevate us to peace of mind and joy while resolving difficulties, until we prove our at-one-ment with God.

Christ Jesus surely gave us the highest example the world has ever known of what it means to have no breaking point. He was not in doubt as to where he came from or where he was going. His clear understanding of his unity with the source of all strength supported him in making the supreme demonstration over death itself, proving he was the Son of God. His three days in the tomb working out the problem of being could be likened to the most exacting and scientific laboratory test ever known. He showed us that Life, God, holds man in unbreakable spiritual perfection. His statement "I and my Father are one" ^{John 10:30.} epitomizes the reason and basis for his confidence.

When you're working out some difficulty and the going seems rough, remember your true being—spiritual, indestructible, never subjected to stress and strain. Man is never conscious of a need to be tested; he is conscious only of standing; firm and free.