Last Thanksgiving, while I prepared for family arrivals, I was overcome by an attack of severe cramping, nausea, dizziness, and painful urination. When the symptoms didn’t abate, a family member suggested I go to the emergency room.

However, I have relied on prayer to meet all my health needs for many years, so I wanted to turn to God for healing. I called a Christian Science practitioner for metaphysical treatment, and she calmly assured me that she would begin praying for me immediately. Then she added, “God is the center and circumference of your being, isn’t He?” 

My fear evaporated instantly. I felt calm. I began to think about that statement, which was a reference to a passage in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God’s creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings—our efforts to find life and truth in matter—and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the Godlike man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being” (p. 262).