It happened every Wednesday evening at the testimony meeting in my church. I wanted to speak up and say "Thank you, God," but instead I stayed silent, frozen in my seat.
Church was a quiet oasis in my noisy world. I loved hearing the word of God read aloud. After the readings and a hymn, members of the congregation had the opportunity to stand and share their individual reasons for thanking God. And they did that—warmly, sincerely, helpfully. In a few months I began to realize that I was one of only a few attending regularly who never stood to express gratitude.
It wasn't that I didn't have something to talk about. By then I was studying the Christian Science Bible Lesson daily, and good things, blessings from God, were appearing in my life. But say "thank you" publicly? That was impossible.
