For Teens November 4, 2019 Issue

The shaking stopped

Andie Raffles

“I can’t seem to get it to stop,” I explained to my softball coach, as my right hand trembled uncontrollably.

I was a right-handed pitcher, and this lack of control made pitching impossible. So I sat on the sidelines, unable to play. That night I told my parents about the situation, and we did what we’d done many times in the past: We prayed. Praying the way I’d learned to in the Christian Science Sunday School had always helped me, so I was confident I would be healed.

As my hand was still trembling after school the next day, I decided to call a Christian Science practitioner for additional help. He directed me to this passage in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “There is no involuntary action. The divine Mind includes all action and volition, and man in Science is governed by this Mind” (p. 187). I prayed with the idea that no matter what appeared to be going on, there actually couldn’t be any movement outside of God’s, divine Mind’s, control, so my hand couldn’t shake uncontrollably.

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