Riptide

Maryjane Stimson Kenward

Heather was a good swimmer. She loved to ride the breakers that rolled up on the beach near her home. During summer vacation from junior high school (when she had finished her chores at home) she and her friend Lisa would go to the beach to bodysurf and play.

One day Heather was swimming alone out beyond the breaker line. Suddenly she found she was in some very choppy water. When she couldn't swim out of it, Heather realized this was a riptide—two currents that cross for a time and can pull a person along. The impulse to be afraid was very strong. But then a good reason for not being afraid seemed even stronger.

Earlier that day Heather and her mother had read some of the Christian Science Bible Lesson.^{Found in the Christian Science Quarterly .} The subject that week was "God the Preserver of Man." They had talked about how God always had cared for them. Even when they had had problems relating to health or didn't have enough money, trusting God's love had brought help.