About eleven years ago, I woke one morning feeling a pain in my breast, and when I put my hand to it I discovered a lump there. I was absolutely paralysed with fear, and I found it difficult to think clearly. I got up and studied the weekly Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly as I usually did, and this calmed my thought. I did not mention the situation to any of the family.
As I drove to work, I declared out loud that I was God's child, that He was closer to me than my breath, and that nothing could separate me from Him. It was a lovely summer morning, and as I looked up at the sun and the blue sky, I began to think about the description of sun in the Glossary of Science and Health: "The symbol of Soul governing man,—of Truth, Life, and Love" (p. 595). This led on to the thought of "the sunlight of Truth" (see p. 162), and "the radiant sun of virtue and truth" (see p. 246). The words radiance and radiant came into my thought, along with words from a hymn— "radiancy divine"(see Christian Science Hymnal, No. 206). All this was filling my thought as I drove, and I determined that however I felt during the day, I would consciously keep a smile on my face and radiate joy.
That evening when I reached home, I contacted a Christian Science practitioner, and she agreed to pray for me. The next day when I telephoned her, she shared thoughts with me about the children of Israel going to the Promised Land. As I thought about this, I concentrated on "trusting Truth, the strong deliverer, to guide me into the land of Christian Science, where fetters fall and the rights of man are fully known and acknowledged" (Science and Health, pp. 226–227). I pondered and prayed with these thoughts over the next few days, and claimed my right to be free, as God has made me. Within twenty-four hours the fear was gone. And within the week, all physical evidence of the difficulty was gone, too. I was immensely grateful and uplifted by this experience.
