One winter day last year, I was taking care of some chores and tweaked a muscle in my back. This made it difficult to move, so I immediately began praying about the idea of movement. One thought that came to me was a statement in Mary Baker Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action” (p. 283). While I still felt sore and uncomfortable over the next few days, the ideas in that passage helped, and I was able to continue with my regular plans and duties.
The following Sunday, I felt very strongly led to attend a Sunday service at a branch church a few towns away. I had been attending this church both online and in person for several months and enjoyed all the services and meetings. As I sat in the pew that Sunday, I kept thinking about how it was a healing service—an announcement many branch churches make each Sunday and Wednesday. I felt that everyone there was affirming the spiritual truths that were being shared during that hour-long service and that I would be able to hear and understand the healing ideas I needed.
Partway through the service, the idea came to me that I needed to join this branch church. I had been praying on and off about branch church membership since moving to the area over a year before, but had not decided which of the many local branches to join. As I cherished both the healing effect of the service and the idea of joining the membership, my back began to improve.
