Within a three-month period, a foster son, my husband, and my sister all passed on. Two days after my husband passed on, our son and only child was married in a ceremony that had been planned for some time. The loving, prayerful for support of a Christian Science practitioner was greatly appreciated at this time. And the wedding day itself was a joyous one with many relatives and friends present. But when everything had quieted down, I was alone for the first time in many years.
So I turned to God, as I had learned to do in Christian Science. My prayers were for guidance. I wanted to know more of God's infinite plan. The healing of grief was not instantaneous, and the answers did not come all at once. Still I was grateful for what good I could see and do. For one thing, I was able to be of support to others whose lives had also been touched by these events.
The feeling of separation from my husband was greatly eased when I pondered this verse in Isaiah (54:5): "Thy Maker is thine husband." I knew I could never be separated from my Maker, God; therefore, I reasoned, I could not, in reality, be separated from anything good. Also much grief left me when I suddenly realized that the feeling that now "I" had to do everything was only personal sense—an aggressive suggestion, not a divine law—and therefore could not govern me. I also strove to be obedient to the By-Law "Alertness to Duty" in the Manual of The Mother Church by our Leader, Mrs. Eddy (Art. VIII, Sect. 6): "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind. By his works he shall be judged,—and justified or condemned."
