When I was a young child, I came down with a serious illness that our doctor could not diagnose, and therefore felt unable to treat. On his recommendation, my parents took me to the local hospital, where additional tests were done but without conclusive results. 

I remember lying in an intensive care room and being fed intravenously while doctors and nurses tried unsuccessfully to bring my temperature down. After two days with no progress, my mom was asked to stay with me overnight. Because parents were usually given this request only when the medical staff didn’t expect the child to live through the night, she was afraid. In that mental state, she called her mother, my grandmother.

My grandmother had recently taken up the study of Christian Science, and my parents had ridiculed her for it. But during this call, she said to my mom something to the effect of, “Your son is under medical care, but you need to heal the fear that is controlling you.” She then asked my mom for permission to call a Christian Science practitioner to provide prayerful Christian Science treatment for my mom, who responded, “Yes, anything that might help!”