MY WIFE AND I had just completed a long day of driving from St. Louis to our second home, in Maine. That night in our motel room, as I bent over to play with our golden retriever, I was suddenly seized with a sharp and debilitating back pain. I fell to the floor, unable to move from the waist down.
Immediately, my wife came to my side and helped me get into bed. She also began to pray with me and reminded me that my Father-Mother, God, is "a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1).
Prayer has been a first resort for both of us in the past and, through Christian Science, I've been able to find healing solutions to many challenges. But as I lay there in that motel room, I could hardly focus on praying, because I felt so afraid. Several of my family members had experienced similar problems, and I'd also dealt with back pain before, though it had never been this severe. I wondered whether I'd ever be able to teach in a classroom again, or even how I would be able to endure the last 700 miles of our trip. Returning home would be just as difficult, since we were halfway between our house and our final destination.
