WALKING HOME FROM WORK one Friday evening last summer, I felt something uncomfortable in my chest every time one of my arms swung forward in rhythm with my stride. I touched the area to see what was causing the discomfort and found a small, hard lump on my chest. Immediately I became fearful, and my thought filled with "what ifs"—especially "what if this is cancer?" As a lifelong Christian Scientist, I knew that dwelling on these thoughts and fears would not help the situation, but I was unsuccessful in turning away from them.
When I arrived home I told my wife what I had discovered and that I needed her prayerful support. I also called a Christian Science practitioner to ask him to pray for me. He reminded me that as God's image (see Gen. 1:27), I am an entirely spiritual being, and therefore we could confidently refute the possibility that any part of my being could be occupied by something that wasn't good or could show anything but complete perfection. Comforted by the thought that the practitioner was praying for me, I proceeded to spend the evening reading from Science and Health, the Bible, the Christian Science Hymnal, and the Christian Science magazines.
I would feel calm as long as I was reading, but when I put the books down, fear crept back in, and I found it difficult to concentrate on the healing ideas I had been reading. The next morning I told the practitioner about this. He continued to pray for me. Later that same day, I took my first of two steps toward a complete healing.
