THE ACHILLES' TENDON of my right leg had been painful and stiff for several months. But since I had been able to carry on with my duties as a young wife and mother, I didn't give the situation much attention—even though my usual response would have been to pray about it.
Then a neighbor and I began to run in the early mornings. I enjoyed taking time to exercise and then study the weekly Bible Lesson (found in the Christian Science Quarterly) before the usual hustle and bustle of getting my children ready for the day.
But soon, the pain in my tendon intensified. For the first time, I stopped to think about some of the fears I had about this nagging difficulty. First, I couldn't seem to shake the memory of the way a college friend had severely injured his Achilles' tendon. He'd needed an operation to correct the problem, and a year afterward still had a significant scar. This had really frightened me.
