It was early one morning and I was in a deep sleep. The phone woke me; a family member was in obvious distress. She poured out the anguish that had for days prevented her from having a good night’s sleep. And now, she told me, the fire alarm was sounding in her apartment building! I tried to reassure her, but nothing seemed to comfort her. When I hung up, I had a sense of inadequacy about my life-long study of Christian Science. I knew that fear and anguish have no place in our experience, since God’s creation includes only peace and harmony. Would I give up this opportunity to prove what I had learned?
The answer came in a way that I had never experienced before. These words in the form of an affirmative prayer poured into my consciousness as if impelled by the Holy Spirit: “God, You have the answer to this. You are ‘the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving’ God. You supply all substance and intelligence. The reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love is established here and now and rules out all anxiety.” I recognized part of that thought as coming from Mary Baker Eddy’s definition of God on page 587 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. And after pondering these thoughts for a while and marveling at their power, I went back to sleep.
A few days later I saw the family member. She mentioned that after talking to me on the phone that night, she had dropped off to sleep and later awoke refreshed, free from anxiety, and ready to face the issues of the day. I told her that I had prayed after her call. She responded, “I thought you had.”
