Diane Marrapodi (the Journal’s May interview, p. 18) did indeed “take [me] to thought-places [I’ve] never gone before;” so much that I was impelled to immediately reread the article—and got so much more out of it.
I concurred with Diane from the outset, having recently taken care of my mother for five years, and the approach of handling things in order as they presented themselves was instrumental in my not being overwhelmed. In fact orderliness is one of six important qualities Mary Baker Eddy instructs that a nurse should possess and express (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 395).
Regarding Mind being in control of everything, the primary prayer of truth during my caregiving experience—affirmed regularly with spiritual understanding—was that God was taking very good care of my mother as patient and God was taking very good care of me as caregiver. Along the same lines, Adam Dickey’s article “Possession” (Journal, June 1917, p. 121) was most helpful in my not assuming false responsibility for my mother’s well-being, thereby freeing me from unnecessary mental burdens and allowing me to focus on the “practical wisdom necessary” to “take proper care of the sick” (Church Manual, p. 49).
