While was pregnant with our fourth child, a test indicated I was anemic. The midwife who gave me this information was concerned for me and urged me to use an iron supplement and to eat lots of iron-rich foods. (Prenatal medical care is required by the laws in our state.) Christian Science had healed our family members of numerous difficulties—earaches, fevers, coughs, disease, food poisoning, injuries, and so on. Prayer had also been of major importance in childbirth (see my testimony, The Christian Science Journal, April 1982). I decided not to change my diet or take supplements but to rely exclusively on prayer in Christian Science to correct the trouble.
The midwife seemed to recognize that although I was choosing a different course than what she had recommended, I was taking definite action. My decision was not regarded as ignorant or negligent. She indicated that she would monitor the condition as the pregnancy progressed. I called a Christian Science practitioner, who began to pray with me.
While I was happy with my decision, I struggled with one serious question: How could spiritualizing my thought cause the adjustment in my blood considered necessary for a normal delivery? Looking to the Bible for guidance, I found this loving counsel of Christ Jesus (Matt. 6:31, 33): "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat?" and "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." I began to cherish this promise as an unfailing divine law, and I deeply desired to understand it better.
