Twenty-two years ago in the winter my left shoulder became very painful. Moving this arm grew more and more difficult, and it ached even when I didn't move it. I have known Christian Science since 1923 and have had Christian Science class instruction with a devoted teacher, who taught us to unwind our own snarls. So I knew I could see the unreality of this physical problem and had but to pray and study.
My husband, who was a doctor, warned me that it was evolving toward ankylosis of the shoulder, but both of us trusted that it would dissolve and disappear. Holiday time came, and we traveled. I could no longer move my arm at the shoulder. It remained close to the body, and my forearm could only move up and down.
When we came home, there was a lot of mail awaiting us. Among other things there was a current copy of The Herald of Christian Science. I was sitting with a table on my left and a mirror on the wall in front of me. I had worked prayerfully as well as I knew how, banishing all resentment, silencing self-will, giving up all that was personal, even my own sense of good, and striving to become more obedient to the demand, "Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness" (Ps. 95: 8). My prayer was to hear God's voice, as this would enable me to see what the error was.
