In early November of 1996, I was elected First Reader at my branch Church of Christ, Scientist. A month or so earlier, however, I had begun to experience stiffening in my knee joints. Since my new duty required me to stand while conducting the services, I clearly needed to be healed. By Thanksgiving, though, I was experiencing increased discomfort in my entire body. I couldn't sit, stand, or walk easily.
Compounding the problem, two other crises erupted in my extended family. By that time, I felt like the Psalmist who cried, "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Ps. 61:2).
During the next six weeks, I had a Christian Science practitioner pray for me. I was praying, too, and spiritual truths just poured into thought. I felt God's angel messages, or spiritual thoughts, releasing me from a material sense of myself. An article by Mary Baker Eddy states: "A little more grace, a motive made pure, a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the movement of body and soul in accord with God" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 354). What a checklist to measure myself by during the day!
