Article July 9, 2012 ISSUE

Trials, not troubles

Elizabeth Kellogg

“Trials are proofs of God’s care” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 66).

How grateful we can be that Mary Baker Eddy used the word trials and not troubles in that sentence! Her choice of the word trial gives us an immediate starting point for prayer, because it brings with it the concepts of innocence and justice. Eddy is clearly not promoting the idea that God likes to show His care for us by punishing us. Instead, to an innocent person, a trial is the legal opportunity to prove his or her innocence.