About a year ago, I faced a painful back condition. I could barely pick up my two-year-old grandson and could not find a comfortable sleeping position. I was visiting my daughter, helping her move her belongings and furniture from one home to another. I wanted to give her my full support but felt at half-mast.

One evening, while lying awake in a sleeping household and worrying about how useful I would be the next day, I realized that this was an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of God. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy counsels, “It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony” (p. 390). I reasoned that if this was the case, then a good starting point in prayer would be to think more deeply about seven Bible-based synonyms, or names, for God. 

In answer to the question, “What is God?” we read, “God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love” (Science and Health, p. 465). These synonyms illuminate the divine nature, helping us gain a multidimensional view of the one God. Seen as a cohesive whole, they give us a glimpse of God’s supremacy, power, goodness, and allness. They also provide important insight into our spiritual identity as the divine image and likeness, enabling us to understand that man is solely spiritual, not both spiritual and material. This spiritual concept of our true identity counteracts any suggestion of decline or incapacity.