When my children had grown up and left home, I began experiencing considerable pain in my abdomen. It felt as though my womb was dropping or had dropped.

Through Christian Science, I'd been healed of that condition in a milder form a year before. At that time I'd prayed with the simple words, "God holds." Quoting from Proverbs 30:4, Science and Health refers to God as Spirit, promising that "moral and spiritual might belong to Spirit, who holds the 'wind in His fists;'and this teaching accords with Science and harmony" (p.192). Often, simple thoughts are the most helpful to me, and the concept of God holding all creation in a state of harmony had been much in my thought. I had already used this idea that "God holds" all creation in a state of harmony when praying about a threatening wind when my husband and I were driving in southern France. Relating it to the pain and discomfort I felt, I had found the physical evidence of prolapse, including the pain, quickly healed.

But now when the condition reappeared, it was more severe, and my every movement was painful. But having learned to turn to God first in any problem, I again stayed with the words "God holds."

I contacted a Christian Science practitioner and asked for her prayerful help. She explained that she was willing to pray for me, but would be flying to the United States the following day. So I asked her if she would give me just one Christian Science treatment before she left, to help me to see myself as God's perfect reflection, with everything about me in its right place. This she agreed to do.

As we talked a little more, I mentioned that I had the feeling my own mothering was no longer needed, as my children had left home. But I'd learned in Christian Science that to align one's thought with God's harmony and perfection is an important step toward healing, and by doing this I could rest assured that God would supply ample outlets for me to express motherhood. Indeed I was always needed to do His work, to comply with His will, and to be blessed, as we all are.

I don't remember what time of day it was that I asked for help, but I do remember that when I got out of bed the following morning, all pain had gone, and I could move entirely freely. I was, and continue to be, very grateful for this quick and permanent healing, which occurred about 17 years ago.

I have since realized that there are abundant opportunities in my daily life to express God's motherhood. Indeed, when I was the clerk of my branch Church of Christ, Scientist, for six years, I regarded it as an opportunity to "mother" one aspect of church activity.

To grow up studying and applying Christian Science teachings, seeking spiritual healing through understanding our relationship to God, is wonderful. But there comes a time when one has to make it one's own. This happened for me when I was in my mid-teens. One of my hands was covered in warts, and because I used to practice the piano a lot, they were constantly in view. At one point I tried a patent medicine wart remover, but it was not successful, as they just reestablished themselves.

I had been attending a Christian Science Sunday School, and some statements from Science and Health were becoming familiar to me. One day I was sitting at the piano looking at my hands, and the words "false testimony of the material senses" came to me. This particular phrase occurs several times in Science and Health. For example, in this passage: "Divine Science reverses the false testimony of the material senses, and thus tears away the foundations of error" (p. 273).

I began to think more deeply about those words, and realized that there are many ways in which our physical senses do not tell us the truth. For instance, the sun appears to go around the earth, when in fact the earth goes around the sun. Two plumb lines close together appear to be completely parallel, although this cannot possibly be so. I went on to realize that the evidence of warts that I was seeing daily with my eyes was not the true picture of God's spiritual child—which I was—made after His "likeness" and in His "image" (see Gen. 1:26, 27). I stayed with that thought. And the next morning, the largest wart on my hand was half the size it had been. I continued to pray in the same vein. Within a week, all the warts had disappeared, and my hands were clean.

This healing, which was accomplished entirely through my own prayers, was a big encouragement to me in my early study of Christian Science. Many years later, when a wart appeared on one hand, I once again prayed, realizing again that the appearance of this condition had never actually related to my true, spiritual identity, and the wart went away.

I am most grateful for the clear sense of healing guidance that I have experienced in my life as a result of the teachings of Christian Science. I also give great thanks for the help these teachings give us in distinguishing between right and wrong.

VALERIE FORSYTH
ESHER, SURREY, ENGLAND