My Grace is Sufficient for Thee

I was feeling quite ill recently, and was practically incapacitated for a little while. I prayed and asked God what it was I needed to know, and for a while I really did not get an answer. I felt very insecure. I mentioned this to my wife, who is a practitioner, and she offered to pray.

As we prayed, a couple of things came to me. One was the story of Paul who had the thorn in his side. He asked God to cure him of whatever that ailment was, and God’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (II Cor.) I thought, alright, Father, I’m going to be grateful for Truth, grateful for Life, grateful for Love, and that is sufficient. I don’t care how I feel physically, I’m going to do whatever you want me to do.

I was able to do everything I needed to do for Him, for my church, for my business, for my family. And I loved it. I was grateful to have the work to do, and within a fairly short period of time, I began to feel much better. All I felt was that I needed to grow spiritually closer to Him and just feel His love, and express His love, and to be more obedient to Him. I was healed of that situation shortly after, and it has not returned.

I feel very grateful for this experience. My wife told me recently that she was reading something that Mrs. Eddy told to someone in her household, when Mrs. Eddy was ill—“you see an illness, but I see God chastening me.” And that expressed how I felt during that experience. It was God chastening me. I had drifted away from Him somehow and I needed to draw closer. That was the lesson.

I am grateful for Christian Science, for this healing, for the help of my wife, and to be a member of this church, where there is so much good to be done.