I hope this testimony will bring comfort to some mother who fears her son may be called upon to take active part in war.
Soon after the United States entered the World War in 1917, my son enlisted for military service. At first I was overcome with fear. I had been a student of Christian Science for a short time, and to it I turned for comfort and relief. To say that I received these, is putting it mildly. Soon angels began to tell me of the omnipotence, omnipresence, and love of God. I reasoned that if God is all power and "fills all space." as Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 331), He was closer to my son than any destructive force or element. Mrs. Eddy also says (ibid., p. 210): "Because immortal sense has no error of sense, it has no sense of error; therefore it is without a destructive element." God being Love and being ever present, there could be no room, place, or channel through which hate or evil forces could reach him. I also saw that even if I had the joy of keeping him at home or out of the war, I had no other assurance of his safety. Realizing his spiritual relationship with his Father Mother God, and placing him entirely in God's hands, I was able to send him away without a doubt of his safe return.
When a former teacher of his told him she was coming over to cry with his mother on the day when he had to go, he joyously told her his mother was trusting him absolutely to God and felt no fear or sadness. I was able to go with him to the station and see the company depart; to bid him good-by without any sense of sadness or regret, and not at any time during his absence, which lasted until after the end of the war and included service overseas, did I fear for his safety. I am glad to say that he returned happy and well. He said the remembrance of the smile on my lips as he left, comforted and sustained him when danger arose.
