By Juli Vice, published in the April 12, 2010 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
I’ve always loved this verse from Psalms: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (46:1). Over the years, my family and I have been continuously comforted by that truth. Many opportunities to feel this comfort came during the pregnancy and birth of our second child.
From the time I found out that we were expecting, I began praying with a Christian Science practitioner to see the child as spiritual, as an idea of God, Spirit, and also to start from the basis of God as the universal Parent not only for the child, but for us as well. With our first child we’d had a home birth, which was such a wonderful, harmonious experience. The delivery had taken place so effortlessly, and even the midwife had commented on this. Based on that first experience, we decided to have our second child at home also.
We made a call to a midwife and, during the first visit, found that this midwife had a more clinical approach to childbirth. I talked to her about how I relied on prayers as a means of healthcare, instead of medicine. The midwife’s assistant, a very devout woman of faith, had been present at the birth of our first child, and shared with this midwife that based on what she had witnessed during that first birth, reliance on prayer in Christian Science worked.
During the months of visits with our midwife, there were a couple of things she was concerned about—my blood pressure and the possibility that I was a candidate for gestational diabetes. One day, she decided to run some tests and I agreed. When I went home afterward, I called the Christian Science practitioner I’d been talking with, and she reminded me that each time I was examined, the midwife was capable of seeing what God sees, which is God’s complete and perfect idea. This pertained both to myself and the baby.
As a result of my prayer, I realized that I’d been feeling stressed about each of my scheduled visits. I needed to see the midwife also as a child of God, able to see me in the right spiritual light, expressing freedom from flaws or health issues. I prayed also to quiet the fear that something might be wrong with the baby. It became clear to me that God never leaves us, guarding and guiding our thoughts and actions every moment.
After that, when I went in for my exams, I felt completely at peace, and when my blood pressure was taken, it was normal. I was reminded of the statement Mary Baker Eddy makes in Science and Health that “a spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive” (p. 463). Continued prayer helped me see myself and the child as completely pure and spiritual, and I felt confident that this would be evident.
When the midwife received the results from the gestational diabetes test, she told me it was amazing. She wasn’t expecting everything to be perfect with both the baby and with me. This was a great opportunity to see that God was in control and to really love with a true Christian love, even when it seemed as if someone was expecting things to be wrong.
When the day of delivery came, our midwife was out of town, so we had to call a substitute. When it came time for me to deliver the baby, I found that I couldn’t seem to make any progress pushing. There was a great deal of pain, and I was tiring quickly. I became fearful that something was wrong and prayed intensely to God for help, affirming that God was right there supplying us all with the needed wisdom for solutions to come forward. The angel message came immediately to shift a certain way, and after doing this, there was very gentle, gradual progress, and our healthy, large, baby boy was delivered a few minutes later.
After the delivery, the midwife made a remark about how well the delivery had gone, even though there had been a couple of complications and things causing internal resistance. I immediately gave gratitude for God’s loving care for all of us and for the calm, helpful, and receptive thoughts of the midwife and her assistant. The assistant even commented that there was no doubt in her mind that God had been present.
When I called the Christian Science practitioner to tell her the news, I asked her what she’d been praying with. She said that she was praying to know that there was one Mind, God, governing the entire process. I was so grateful to see the proof of that prayer.
Our son is now in college and is a healthy, athletic young man who also relies on prayer for healing. Christian Science is truly that “pearl of great price” that we can cherish.