Several months ago, Ben, the older of my two children, began having great difficulty breathing. He had been exhibiting flu-like symptoms the previous two days, and I had been praying for him. He had also been receiving treatment from a Christian Science practitioner. I made him as comfortable as I could on the couch so that he could be near me as I prayed for him. He lost his fear of the breathing difficulty quite soon and became calmer. But he was having periodic spasms, as well, and while he seemed confident of healing, I was very alarmed and fearful. I telephoned the practitioner for further prayer, and was directed to the passage in Science and Health with the marginal heading "Scientific obstetrics" (see p. 463). I felt that I knew this paragraph inside and out, and despaired that it could show me anything new.
In obedience, though, I turned to it and read. Then I got to the sentence "When this new birth takes place, the Christian Science infant is born of the Spirit, born of God, and can cause the mother no more suffering." This helped to clear my thoughts, and I saw that neither Ben nor I could be caused to suffer.
God is the only cause, and He could only cause me to see who His child really is—a spiritual idea, perfect and sturdy. I accepted this. My responsibility lay in beholding Ben's perfect oneness with God.
