One Friday evening while our family was all together, I started having chest pains that were very severe. I went upstairs to my bedroom and read from Science and Health, before falling asleep for a short time.
When I woke, the chest pains were intense, and I could not move my left arm. It was as if I had an immovable weight on my chest. I stayed in bed and tried to pray for myself as best I could. In the morning, I was sitting up in bed, crying in pain, when my oldest son came into the bedroom. Seeing me in distress, he reminded me that I had always told them to jump right onto a problem quickly, and if it didn't yield, to call a practitioner for treatment. He urged me to call a practitioner immediately, which I did. The practitioner listened quietly as I was crying and explaining the situation. He asked me to ponder the hymn, written by Mary Baker Eddy, which begins: "O gentle presence, peace and joy and power; /O Life divine, that owns each waitinghour" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 207). He also quoted part of another poem by Mrs. Eddy (Poems, p. 24):
O Love divine,
This heart of Thine
Is all I need to comfort mine.
