In January 2020, with increasing media suggestions of an impending worldwide plague, the atmosphere was becoming infused with fear. This was a wake-up call for me to include this in my daily prayers. 

Turning to God for direction, I was led to something Mary Baker Eddy wrote in the Christian Science textbook: “Casting out evil and fear enables truth to outweigh error. The only course is to take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God’s image” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 392). I took the “course” of absolutely defying the fear that was beginning to grip the whole world and relying on God. 

Then, in mid-February 2020, I began to experience symptoms of an aggressive chest cold. I made two decisions. First, I was going to trust God no matter what, just as three Hebrew men thrown into a fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar trusted God and emerged whole and untouched by even the smell of fire (see the Bible’s book of Daniel, chapter 3). Second, I called a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer. He suggested that we start by embracing the truth of man as the pure likeness of God, divine Love, full of grace and the beauty of holiness.