About six years ago, I was going through a period of great adjustment in my life. Because of personal problems, and what I perceived as church problems, I withdrew my membership from church. For about three years I didn't attend church, and the children stopped attending Sunday School.
During this time, our son was required to have a sports physical to participate in basketball. After the examination the doctor came out to the waiting room to discuss the results of the examination with me. He showed me how our son's spine was out of alignment. He said our son would need an operation and I should see an orthopedic surgeon. I realized I wanted to pray about this instead. I told the doctor this, and he said that prayer was good. But he wanted to see our son again in a couple of months. As I prayed, I now saw, with delight, that my son's uprightness was not in his spine! It was in God. At the next doctor visit our son passed the physical perfectly. The spine was now in perfect alignment. He played basketball that season.
Also, about this time, a line from Science and Health had become illuminated to me. Speaking of Christ Jesus' mission, Mrs. Eddy writes: "His mission was both individual and collective" (p. 18). When I read that, I saw that the mission of church is collective, as well as individual. Church isn't something you have on your own. It's everyone working individually and together. That was my answer! I began to attend church services again, and the children went back to Sunday School. My husband joined me in attending church. Soon I reapplied for membership (with joy) and was accepted.
