Article February 9, 2015 Issue

Don’t know enough? God does!

Marie Helm

When I was a child, my grandmother’s quiet, spiritual wisdom was a major source of inspiration to me. We often had long conversations on spiritual topics. I once asked her how she always seemed to intuitively know just how to deal with whatever problems she faced. She gave a simple reply: that God gave her the ideas, the intuitions, and the wisdom that she needed, and that she leaned on those spiritual ideas and intuitions to find answers and healing.

My grandmother’s faith and trust in God’s goodness and tender care resonated deeply in my heart. She was a student of Christian Science, and when I was a teenager I began to study Christian Science myself, because I wanted to feel the same sense of calm and confidence that she had gained from her deep trust in God—from understanding what the Bible states: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1). The healing experiences I’d seen had shown me how this trust in God dissolves fear and opens the heart to fully accept the teachings of Christ Jesus, including his promise “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also” (John 14:12).

However, Jesus’ promise that we are capable of healing sometimes felt too far-fetched for me to accept and believe. Perhaps like other new readers of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, when I first started reading it, I often wondered, “Will I ever understand enough of Christian Science that I can confidently expect healing to take place through my prayers?”

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