I am truly blessed to have been raised in Christian Science and seen it lived daily by family, friends, and fellow church members. Physical healings over the years have been abundant and sometimes dramatic. So, I was uncertain why I had been unable to heal a problem with my feet that kept me from hiking and mountain climbing.

One year, while my mother and I were attending the annual meeting of the Christian Science students’ association that I belong to, the speaker emphatically affirmed the all-power of God; our identity as children of God, expressing only God’s perfection; and the ability of each of us to be a means of healing for ourselves and others. Embracing this fresh presentation of Truth, I felt an inner stirring and realized that I could overcome this foot problem.

After the address, our speaker asked each of us to tell her something we wanted to do during the next year. Without hesitation, I responded that I wanted to climb Half Dome again. This mountain in California’s Yosemite National Park rises nearly nine thousand feet above sea level (five thousand feet above the valley floor). I had climbed it twice before but had given up hope of ever climbing it again. My mother immediately chimed in, saying that she too would like to achieve this goal, despite the limits commonly believed to apply to older adults. Thus were sown the seeds of a wonderful healing.