Nothing too hard for God
A year after our first child was born, I developed a physical difficulty that made it necessary for me to be near the bathroom all the time. Although I was not in pain, the picture was alarming because there was evidence of internal bleeding.
When I became pregnant with our second child, I worried that this physical condition would complicate the pregnancy in some way. I visited a midwife for regular checkups, and, as required by state law, she took blood samples at each visit. One day, the midwife called saying there was something in my blood work she didn’t recognize, and she wanted me to consult a doctor.
My husband, the midwife, and I visited a local hospital, where the doctor reviewed the blood sample and told us he had a diagnosis. I knew I had an important decision to make at that moment. I could listen to the doctor’s determination of the condition of my body, or I could rely on Christian Science, as I had done throughout my whole life. Christian Science teaches that God, Mind, created the universe, including me, in His image and likeness. Creation is spiritual and good, not material, and not subject to disease or discord of any kind (see Genesis 1:26, 31 ).
I told the doctor I was there to determine whether the baby was in any danger. He assured us that the baby was fine and would not be affected by the blood condition. I then explained that I didn’t need him to share the diagnosis with us and that I intended to ask a Christian Science practitioner to help me through prayer. The doctor graciously accepted my decision. My husband, who is not a Christian Scientist, was also comfortable with my decision. He knew Christian Science was more than a substitute for medical treatment. As Mary Baker Eddy explains in her book Rudimental Divine Science, Christian Science is “the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony” (p. 1 ).
I kept in touch with and prayed with the practitioner throughout my pregnancy, and our healthy baby girl was born without any difficulties. Although I felt God’s healing power during this time, the physical condition I’d experienced during my second pregnancy lingered. This weighed especially heavily on my husband, and I realized I was harboring a deep-seated fear of my own. Was I a good enough Christian Scientist to overcome this long-standing physical challenge? Was it going to be a part of me forever?
Answers to those questions were distractingly delayed one evening by an emotional appeal from my husband to have medical care. I realized that he was so worried about me that he simply had to challenge me, and the fear and doubt I’d been struggling with came full force into the light to be examined.
I needed to overcome this fear quickly and decisively. My trust in God’s goodness all these years could not possibly lead me to an insurmountable decision or an either/or scenario. God would not let me down for trusting in Him. With every ounce of my being, I resisted the unjust thought that I would somehow be forced to relinquish my trust in God to save my relationship with my family.
I was able to fall asleep with this comforting, familiar Bible passage in mind: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6 ).
I didn’t realize until two weeks later that I’d had an instantaneous healing that night. The awareness came while I was making the bed one morning. My husband surprised me with a cheerful, “Your symptoms are all gone, aren’t they?” I stared at him in disbelief. He was right; the physical condition had disappeared completely. No vestige of the symptoms, no fear, no nagging doubt remained. Not even the bad memory of what had become a two-year-long physical struggle remained in thought or in my body. It was as if it had never been. For the first time I realized fully that, spiritually speaking, this discordant condition never had been a part of me. God, to whom I felt closer than ever before, knows only a perfect, harmonious universe, and me as His perfect reflection.
It’s become clear to me now that my resolve to trust unwaveringly in God on that night of anxiety and tension was, in part, the result of my husband’s love for me and his unwillingness to watch me suffer any more. This healing blessed him and has continued to bless our family over the years since then. Any time I’m tempted to think that a problem is too big for me, I turn back to that experience and the lessons I learned about complete trust in God. I ask that age-old question found in Genesis 18:14 , “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” To which I deliver a resounding “No!”
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy states, “When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible” (p. 180 ). How grateful I am to have proved this to be true!
Cathie Trogdon
Severna Park, Maryland, US
