Once while on the job I began having severe stomach pains. The thought came, "Why should I have to stay here and be uncomfortable? They can get someone else to do this job. I'd rather be home in bed anyway."

Then I recalled that I had been sharing Christian Science a lot lately through invitations to Christian Science lectures and bringing some friends to the church services. I also remembered what Mrs. Eddy says in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany (p. 165): "As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good. Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing." That was a healing message! I felt strong already. A couple of lines from a hymn also came to mind (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 59): "Fight the good fight with all thy might,/Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right." I realized then that my true business was to reflect the saving Truth that heals, to express my divine nature.

At one point, when the discomfort became acute, I read an article from a recent copy of The Christian Science Journal. It brought out that it is sometimes thought we have to pay a penalty in order to claim the spiritual blessings that are rightfully ours. Actually, claiming what is rightfully ours only brings the reward of allowing us to feel the kingdom of heaven right where we are. What a grand mission to be involved in! I suddenly became very grateful for my church activities and more appreciative of my church family. Gratitude put me back in the running!

By the end of the week I was feeling much closer to God and entirely free of the physical complaint.

While I was serving in a Christian Science Reading Room one day, a man came in to buy a Bible and a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy. The heartfelt sincerity of this person was an inspiration to me. Soon he and his wife were attending services at our local branch church.

At one point this man's wife suddenly became ill and he had to care for her. I grew fearful that he too might become ill, as I knew this had happened to him once before. Overburdened by concern I soon found myself with a heavy cold. This made it hard to think clearly, so I called a Christian Science practitioner for help. She reminded me of the Bible account of Joseph and how his spirituality sustained him during many trials. Spirituality is what indicates to us that we are at one with God, so that we feel Him right with us. This quality, I saw, is something we all have. I seized upon this inspiration, realizing that I had unwittingly been cherishing a personal sense of my friend—as if his identity were separate from God.

That night I pondered this statement (Science and Health, p. 381): "In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and have our being in the infinite God." When I woke the next morning, I felt released and peaceful. And upon returning from work that evening, all evidence of the cold had vanished.

This problem forced me to understand God better. Because of that I know I have glimpsed what Mrs. Eddy means when she writes (Miscellany, p. 174), "To-day my soul can only sing and soar."

JEAN HUBER
Wilmington, Delaware