After recently reading several touching birth testimonies, I realized I was decades overdue in expressing gratitude for the events surrounding the birth of one of our three children.

We had chosen to work with a birth center and a midwife in a small town nearby. I explained that I was a Christian Scientist and would be relying on prayer as taught in Christian Science to support me, as well as receiving Christian Science treatment from a Christian Science practitioner. The actual birth was quick and harmonious, but afterward there seemed to be a problem with bleeding.

The midwife wanted to call in a physician, but I asked for the opportunity to pray about the situation. The midwife agreed but said that if the bleeding did not stop within thirty minutes, she would feel compelled to call in a physician. I asked my husband to call the practitioner and explain the situation.

Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord.
—Psalms 68:32

The practitioner immediately referred to Hymn 350 in the Christian Science Hymnal, which includes the refrain, “All will be well,” “All must be well,” and “All, all is well” (Mary Peters)—assuring us that, regardless of what appears to be happening, we can claim that God is in control. To me, this refrain illustrates the transition from being merely hopeful that everything will work out to knowing that all is well right now, with the trusting expectation that we will experience exactly that.

We also prayed with these lines from the same hymn: “Precious is the Love that healed us, / Perfect is the grace that sealed us.” The practitioner emphasized the word sealed, reminding me that the bleeding could be properly sealed, completely stopped. And in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy explains, “Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements” (p. 475). If I, as God’s precious child, am not made of these elements, there can be no out-of-control flow of blood. As I kept thinking about being “sealed” by grace, I began to feel the healing power of Truth.

Then, a most unexpected thing happened. The practitioner on the phone had not been singing the hymn but simply stating the words. Right then the midwife started humming the tune to that very hymn. You can imagine my surprise! I asked her why she was humming that song, and she said that it was because she had been on duty all evening, and would be there for several more hours. You see, that hymn is adapted from a Welsh folk song whose English title is “All through the night” and which expresses tender care and watchfulness.

The midwife was preparing to keep her vigil through the night, and I was moved to tears with the realization that the one Mind, God, was at work. The timing of having both the practitioner and the midwife referring to the same song, though from different perspectives, helped erase any possible shred of doubt or fear. For me, it was a clear sign that God was in charge and was letting me know that in no uncertain terms. From that point, the bleeding stopped very quickly. The midwife was completely satisfied that all was indeed well, which was later confirmed at a follow-up visit. We were back home with our precious child by early the next morning.

Experiences like this serve as clear reminders that when we acknowledge that God is in complete control, all is well indeed.

Fenna Corry
Greensboro, North Carolina, US