Testimony of Healing March 22, 1982 Issue

When I was in my last semester in college, I realized that I had...

PATRICIA ZISKIN

When I was in my last semester in college, I realized that I had no specific idea of what I wanted to venture into following graduation. After a considerable amount of fruitless worrying, I decided to pray about the decision in Christian Science. I had desired to enter a field in the social sciences but felt very inadequate in expressing the essential qualities needed, such as patience, understanding lovingkindness, and integrity. But then I started to see that man, as God's very expression, naturally expresses all those good and wonderful qualities. I began to claim each quality as my own and to deny the suggestions that would say otherwise.

Up till this time I had felt that I would not be able to survive in a place where such qualities were demanded of me. But after about four months of consistent acknowledgement of these qualities as inherent in my real being as God's child, a wonderful job opportunity opened up for me—one in which expressing these qualities would be essential. And I was ready to accept it! I felt so prepared and placed in this work, as if God had picked me up in his loving arms and put me there.

My responsibilities at this facility consisted of two separate jobs. One I found I really enjoyed, but the other I found to be extremely challenging. I asked a couple of times to be removed from the challenging position but was not granted the request. A statement from Science and Health came to mind one day. Speaking of prayer, Mrs. Eddy states (p. 10): "That which we desire and for which we ask, it is not always best for us to receive. In this case infinite Love will not grant the request." I then began to feel that I had been placed in the demanding position because there was something for me to learn.

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