Eight years ago I had a job requiring me to have facility with my hands, to learn new skills, to devise new systems for the work, and to teach the skills and the systems to others and supervise their work. When I began having pain as I moved my fingers, I endured the discomfort instead of making the effort to heal it, because it seemed necessary to study and think about the work and the personnel almost all the time. Soon my arms were aching when I raised them over my head or reached to fasten my clothes. Then my legs began to hurt, disturbing my rest at night. One night I was awakened by the pain, and now, finally, I was roused to pray earnestly for myself; that is, to give myself Christian Science treatment.
I began by acknowledging God to be the only cause, the only creator, and then I spent some time pondering the meaning of the seven synonyms for God, which Mrs. Eddy gives in Science and Health: Mind, Principle, Spirit, Soul, Life, Truth, Love. Next I identified myself as the image of God, His perfect creation, as the first chapter of the Bible describes man. After I claimed my relationship to God, I denied that I could suffer, because God never caused me to suffer, nor did He cause or permit anything to make me suffer. The words from Hymn No. 144 in the Christian Science Hymnal were comforting: "In atmosphere of Love divine,/We live, and move, and breathe."
Earnestly I asked God to reveal anything else I should know. Immediately the words of the Lord's Prayer came to me (Matt. 6:11), "Give us this day our daily bread." Then I thought of the spiritual meaning of this line, which Mrs. Eddy gives in Science and Health (p. 17), "Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections." Using these words in a special sense that met my need, I thought of grace as ease of movement. I felt great peace and whispered, "Thank you, Father." I accepted then and there my right to have ease of movement — not painful, awkward, fearful movement, but ease of movement. Soon I went to sleep for a good night's rest, the first in several nights.
