In March of 1982 I was a first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and had been charged with testing a new method of locating hostile artillery. A twenty-man platoon had been assigned to assist me. The men had all been volunteered from other units that had been only too happy to get rid of them because most of them had been discipline problems. None of us had any formal training in the equipment we were testing, and as more and more problems surfaced I felt more and more overwhelmed by the responsibilities. While I was returning from a staff meeting one afternoon, a thick cloud of smoke from burning brush wafted over me. What I didn't know at the time was that the brush contained large quantities of poison sumac.

When I woke the following morning, my right eye was swollen shut and the skin on my face swollen and sore to the touch. It looked like a severe case of poison ivy rash. My right hand was also affected. When my men saw the state I was in, they became quite concerned and notified my commanding officer. He ordered me to report to the surgeon.

When I arrived at the medical tent the next morning, I found it filled with a dozen or so marines with the same condition. The doctor examined each of us and told us that we had been exposed to poison sumac. He said that he was recommending that we all be sent back to our home base for treatment that would take several weeks. I said to the surgeon, "Thanks for the prognosis, Doc, but I'm the only one out here doing what I am doing. I don't have two weeks to recuperate. I'm a Christian Scientist, though, and I will ask for Christian Science treatment." He replied to the effect that nothing was going to change without medical treatment.

I called a Christian Science practitioner, who agreed to treat me through prayer. She pointed out that I could not suffer from a false sense of responsibility for the project I was working on, but could let God be God and see His government of man and the universe.

The next morning I returned to the doctor. He expressed great surprise when he saw that as a result of Christian Science treatment, the ugly swollen condition was almost completely gone. By the next morning, there was no sign of the condition. I had been completely healed. More important, fear and lack of confidence had been replaced with confidence that God's law and order were governing my entire situation. Not only were our field experiments successful; the official recognition of my efforts and additional prayerful treatment by the practitioner led to another healing that seemed to be almost a miracle.

I had been given an adverse personnel report as the result of a youthful error of judgment while a second lieutenant. I had been told that there was "no way" I could possibly be promoted because of this mistake. I had already been passed over for promotion once, then twice. Near despair I called the same practitioner, who assured me that only God anoints and appoints his man for promotion. She also prayed for me. Suddenly an amazing thing occurred. A new promotion law was enacted. First lieutenants in my year group would be given a one-time-only unprecedented third time before the promotions board. I was one of forty-three in our division that fell into this category. I clung to the truth that "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34), and I also remembered Daniel's experience in the Old Testament. I realized that God is the Judge, not mortal men. When the results of the promotion board came back, I had been promoted. Seven years later, objections to my promotion to major were also set aside by the president of the promotion board, who knew me.

I have learned that even when an advancement does not come or we lose our job, prayer can show us that God has something even better for us. In December 1991 I was asked to resign from my job for participating too much in the Marine reserves. I leaned on God. This trust in divine Love led in only one week to a much more satisfying job with a 50 percent pay raise. I am ever grateful for divine Love's provision for man.

Keith F. Simon
Roswell, Georgia