Several months ago, Ben, the older of my two children, began having great difficulty breathing. He had been exhibiting flu-like symptoms the previous two days, and I had been praying for him. He had also been receiving treatment from a Christian Science practitioner. I made him as comfortable as I could on the couch so that he could be near me as I prayed for him. He lost his fear of the breathing difficulty quite soon and became calmer. But he was having periodic spasms, as well, and while he seemed confident of healing, I was very alarmed and fearful. I telephoned the practitioner for further prayer, and was directed to the passage in Science and Health with the marginal heading "Scientific obstetrics" (see p. 463). I felt that I knew this paragraph inside and out, and despaired that it could show me anything new.
In obedience, though, I turned to it and read. Then I got to the sentence "When this new birth takes place, the Christian Science infant is born of the Spirit, born of God, and can cause the mother no more suffering." This helped to clear my thoughts, and I saw that neither Ben nor I could be caused to suffer.
God is the only cause, and He could only cause me to see who His child really is—a spiritual idea, perfect and sturdy. I accepted this. My responsibility lay in beholding Ben's perfect oneness with God.
About this same time, I read an article in one of the Christian Science magazines that spoke of the importance of gratitude. As I recall, the article referred to Christ Jesus' giving gratitude to the Father before raising Lazarus from the dead (see John, chap. 11). I thought, "I can give gratitude to God too, even before any physical evidence of healing is present." I'd been telling Ben what I'd learned about him from my prayers as it became clear to me. So he wasn't surprised to have me kneel next to him with my arms around him and say aloud, or to myself, "Thank you, God, for this healing," each time he had trouble breathing or had a spasm. This wasn't blind faith, desperate hope, or superstition —I knew that this boy was perfect and whole, as God's reflection always must be. I was no longer afraid. I understood that the physical symptoms didn't speak of his true being at all. As I shared spiritual truths with Ben, he was visibly comforted. He wasn't distressed by the symptoms anymore. In fact, he seemed unconcerned by them.
Before another day had gone by, Ben was completely well.
More recently, in looking over this child's school report, he and I rejoiced together. He hadn't missed any school because of illness during the previous year.
The power of the Christ working in our lives is so astounding that my gratitude knows no bounds.
Fairbanks, Alaska
