Testimony of Healing October 19, 1998 Issue

God's love protects and heals

Roger A. Dale

About nine years ago, when I first moved to Los Angeles, I attended a Wednesday evening testimony meeting at the Christian Science branch church in my new neighborhood. Two of the citations read from the desk that evening—one from the Bible and one from Science and Health— proved to be very helpful in my own life when I was faced with a violent situation several days later.

I had taken a walk along the beach just after dark. As I was walking, I was suddenly surrounded by about six young men who asked me for money. From the way they acted, it appeared that they intended to harm me if I didn't cooperate with them. I told them that I was not carrying any money, but they began searching my pockets anyway. At that point I remember closing my eyes and reaching out to God in prayer. The first thought that came to me was the passage from Psalms that I had heard at the meeting a few days earlier, "Be still, and know that I am God" (46:10). I immediately felt God's presence and a sense of stillness. With my eyes still closed, I recalled another passage from the church meeting—this one from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: "Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you" (p. 571). When I opened my eyes, the men surrounding me were calm and quiet. One of them, who seemed to be the leader of the group, told the others to leave me alone. As they backed off, he apologized for how they had treated me, and they all walked away.