One morning as I started to get out of bed, I found I could not put any weight on one leg. I’d been dealing with discomfort in my knee for some time, but I hadn’t given it much thought. I like to be active, and this condition scared me. I was afraid my walks, which I loved, would be over, as well as my ability to play tennis.
I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. She gave me hope that this condition could be healed through prayer. Then I gingerly got out of bed and hobbled to my study to read the Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly for that week. The story about Eve and the serpent in the third chapter of Genesis caught my attention. The serpent was a tempter, telling Eve that she had the wrong information from God, and suggesting that if she wanted to be satisfied and happy, she should eat the fruit of the tree “in the midst of the garden,” contrary to God’s command (Genesis 3:3).
As I thought more deeply about this story, I realized that the serpent had no power over Eve. It couldn’t take her hand and put the fruit in it. All the serpent could do was suggest. It was up to Eve how to respond.
