Article December 17, 1979 Issue

Matt passed the test!

Carole Ann Brickner

Things hadn't been going very well for Matt lately. Some of the older boys were teasing him and the other younger boys on the school bus and on the playground. He was also having trouble passing his multiplication tests, and he was quite uncomfortable with an itchy rash on his face and arms. He had had the rash for days, and it seemed to be getting worse. Matt was a Christian Scientist, and he attended the Christian Science Sunday School regularly. He knew that God loves each of His children and gives to each only good, but he just didn't seem able to work out these difficulties by himself.

He and Mom talked about the troublesome rash, and they read from the Bible, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."^{Gen. 1:31;} Matt knew this discomfort certainly wasn't good, and that therefore it couldn't be from God or be real. But still it bothered him, and he even had trouble sleeping. One evening just before he went to bed, Matt and Mom called a Christian Science practitioner. She talked to both of them and then promised to pray for Matt. In the morning he was feeling only a little better, and Mom asked, "Matt, is there something irritating you?"

"Oh, yes, Mom!" said Matt, and he began to talk about the problems he had been having with his multiplication tables at school. Each day he would come home and study his math assignment, and Mom would quiz him on his multiplication tables. He always knew them perfectly. Then he would go to school, and when the time for the test came, he would become so afraid he couldn't remember the answers.

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