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Desperate circumstances, strained relationships, perilous events, even physical beatings and imprisonment—the Apostle Paul knew them all. In a letter to the Christian church at Corinth he recounts his sufferings for Christ, then makes a startling statement: “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” ( II Corinthians 12:10 ).

In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy explains, “It is only by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator” ( p. 491 ).

My husband and I purchased a ceramic tile while traveling as newlyweds in the Western United States and delighted in these lines from a poem inscribed on it: “Now you will feel no rain, as each will be a shelter for the other. ” Over the years, in our several homes, I have read that tile every day and am reminded how marriage is a protection and a blessing to both partners amid life’s many challenges.

The author shows how when we fill our thought with spiritual truths, sin and sickness lose their reality in our consciousness and disappear.

When we’re overwhelmed by many demands, it might feel as though there isn’t enough of God, or good, to go around. Or it might seem as if some people receive more of God’s love than others.

I’ve been asked before why a student of Christian Science would choose prayer to resolve an issue when a simple medical procedure or treatment is available. Of course, the answer to that will always be individual, but for many folks part of it may have to do with the ultimate goal, what they’re really after.

“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; .  .

Christ Jesus instructed his followers: “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” ( Matthew 6:6 ). Jesus then gave what is well-known to Christians as the Lord’s Prayer.

Over the years I have loved pondering the following verse from the Bible: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” ( James 1:17 ). This verse describes so beautifully God’s unchanging, eternal love, which is impartially poured over all His creation.

The Bible tells us that God is Spirit and perfect and that man (everyone) is made in God’s image and likeness. Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” ( Matthew 5:48 ).