UPFRONT October 10, 2005 Issue

The engine could, and so can you

PATRICIA KADICK, STAFF EDITOR

In Watty Piper's retelling of The Little Engine That Could, a little engine's big love for children sparks her courage to help a train loaded with "happy" toys. Hauling an entire train up a mountain would be daunting, yet her unselfish love compelled her to try. And she was a very small engine! But "she tugged and pulled and pulled and tugged and slowly, slowly, they started off" as she said again and again, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." Until they reached the top.

Yet sometimes even our most genuine love for others and for God, along with deep prayer, and an honest, consistent effort to be good—to do everything right—doesn't appear to bring healing, or even peace of mind. Does not get us on top.

This week our authors share and discuss some of the keys they've found to overcoming discouragement in their own lives—keys that opened the path to healing. For Paul Grimes, it's seeing that "Christian Science healing is about resurrection" or as Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "material belief yielding to spiritual understanding" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 593). In "A New Perspective on Healing Discouragement," Susan Mack writes about seeing beyond the limitations of time—which brought her immediate freedom from discouragement, and ultimately healing of a chronic physical condition. Dianne Jarrette's persistent prayer, love, and hope sent her dancing, fully healed.

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