In the Bible there is a passage I discovered a while back that I find very thought-provoking: “Be not afraid of sudden fear … when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence” (Proverbs 3:25, 26). The International Children’s Bible translates these verses to read: “You won’t need to be afraid of trouble coming suddenly.… The Lord will keep you safe.” How often we seem to get caught off guard when something bad suddenly happens, and then we react with fear, which tends to undermine our ability to pray about the situation.

As a Christian Science practitioner, I often have people calling me for help through prayer. One day I was boiling oil in a Chinese wok on the stove and was about to drop in some Chinese dumplings. Just then the phone rang, and as I brought the receiver to my ear, I could hear a woman screaming in pain. I immediately pulled the pot off the stove so that I could respond to her cry for help, but since I did it so quickly, the boiling oil sloshed over my hand and arm. 

Suddenly my arm also seemed to be screaming in pain, clamoring for a fearful reaction. I instantly turned my thought away from the noisy picture of two suffering people and instead lifted my thought up to God. I affirmed: “Father-Mother God, You are always in complete control. You are not the source of pain or accident or suffering of any sort. We are both secure in Your all-powerful care. You are good alone!”

Those thoughts actually flashed through my mind while I was wiping the oil off my arm and hand and telling the woman that I would pray for her, even though I did not know what her problem was. I knew that what mattered was what God was knowing right then about her and me as His beloved children—that we could never be separated from divine Love’s care. Shortly after I hung up, she called back to say she was fine. The pain in my arm had disappeared the moment I recognized the allness of God, good. I never looked at my arm during all of this, but that night I noticed there wasn’t even a mark.

The Bible reminds us to be “instant in prayer” (Romans 12:12) and to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17). To me that means to instantly reject anything unlike God, good, and to rejoice without ceasing in God’s uninterrupted, harmonious care of each one of us. 

In Second Timothy we read, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (1:7). New light was shed on this passage for me when I looked up the word sound in a dictionary. It was defined in part as entire, unbroken, whole, perfect, unhurt, unmutilated, healthy, free from error. We each reflect the perfect, sound Mind that is God, and Mind gives us the power and understanding to overcome fear and suffering.

I’m so grateful for the many healing truths found in the Bible, brought to light through Mary Baker Eddy’s discovery of Christian Science!

Christine Driessen
New York, New York, US