Several years ago, a financial challenge facing our family became increasingly overwhelming for me. 

One day, after a year of prayer and trying to find the income needed to repay creditors, I began to have severe chest pains and trouble breathing. Fear swept over me, and I even wondered if I’d survive. I still went to work each day, though the burden of responsibility for the financial situation and my physical condition continued to plague me.

I’d prayed continually myself, and had also sought the prayerful support of a Christian Science practitioner. But though I often affirmed the facts I knew to be true about God as the source of our well-being, our income, and our freedom, I couldn’t seem to get past the material circumstances to the spiritual certainty and inspiration that would lead to complete healing.

Then one day, in tears, I left work early, depressed and in pain. I earnestly reached out to God. I’d had many healings over the years through trust in His love for me, and I asked Him to help me see now what I needed to know for healing. And I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me.

A hymn from the Christian Science Hymnal (No. 49) came to mind, and for the next hour, I considered every line of this hymn, which includes the verse

Breathe through the pulses of desire
    Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
    Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm.
(John Greenleaf Whittier)

I felt as though God was speaking directly to me as a child whom He loved and cared for, and I glimpsed that all action—including breathing—came from Him and not through any personal ability of my own.

That night I was able to accompany my husband to the Wednesday testimony meeting at our branch church. During the meeting, however, I felt the room start to spin, and I seemed to come close to losing consciousness. My husband whispered to me calmly but with firm and loving reassurance. He knew, as I did, that God, divine Life, was the law—the unchangeable truth—governing me. Therefore I wasn’t subject to material pressures or physical reactions, but was spiritually intact right then. I gained strength from this support and the knowledge that the prayers of the congregation were also effective. I could feel the support of each member of the congregation, though no one was aware of my difficulty.

Shortly upon arriving home after the meeting, I felt a peace I hadn’t known all year. It was as though a mental weight had lifted, and I clearly discerned that my life and being were reflections of divine Spirit—that I was held in God’s harmony and goodness.

I saw that it was impossible for me to be caught irretrievably in desperate circumstances that were beyond His control—that understanding and relying on God’s omnipotence would reveal the answers I needed. I realized that the thought that I had to solve the problem on my own was the force that had gripped me. When I recognized that God had never left me alone and would always provide all that I needed as He had always done in the past, I immediately felt free from pain.

I went to bed an hour later and woke up completely refreshed. That was the end of the physical symptoms, and the healing has been permanent. The financial situation was also resolved harmoniously, and the means to repay the remaining debt came without further struggle.

I’m so grateful to have learned the importance of staying on course spiritually, never doubting that God takes us every step of the way as we seek more of His allness.