Article August 15, 1988 Issue

No cause for fear

Is it possible to stop being alarmed by the dangers we see in the world? Can we face disease calmly and fearlessly?

Kerry M. Knobelsdorff

When first finding my way as a student of Christian Science, I had to leave behind many deeply held beliefs. During this time, fear and the attacks of evil seemed mightily real. Indeed, even though I was learning the falsity of what the material senses were telling me, I was still very much impressed by evidences of danger and discord.

One day, during this time of transition, when I urgently needed to feel loved and protected by God and yearned to feel His care for me, I saw The Christian Science Monitor lying open on the table. One headline stood out to me. It read, "No cause for alarm." The words became an angel message from God. It was as if God had sent this angel thought to deliver me, just as He always will when someone reaches out to Him in need.

The message meant so much to me that I saved the headline. And experience has since shown that difficult, growing times, when we seem to be up against a wall of evil, do not need to be feared. Encouraging all of those who overcome evil with good, Mrs. Eddy writes, "The best lesson of their lives is gained by crossing swords with temptation, with fear and the besetments of evil; insomuch as they thereby have tried their strength and proven it; insomuch as they have found their strength made perfect in weakness, and their fear is self-immolated."^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 10.}