A guest post written by Michele Karlskind

One of my earliest lessons in Christian Science was that whatever we need is already present. Let me explain. On my fifth birthday, I was rushed to a hospital with a potentially fatal diagnosis. Treatment began, but I lost even more ground with each successive medical effort made because I was allergic to the antidote.

My mother, healed of deafness at age three, had been raised in Christian Science. My dad, raised Baptist, had since joined the Episcopal Church. And two kind and caring Catholic nuns visited my hospital room throughout every day, always smiling, always gently loving. My small room seemed to become an ecumenical gathering place.

Divisive? No. The word “ecumenical” in The Oxford Dictionary has an inclusive definition: “seeking or promoting worldwide Christian unity.” I experienced that unity.

Learning of my diagnosis and the prognosis – there was no alternative antidote – the nuns encouraged my parents to take me home. The doctor, having no hope for my situation, agreed to release me with no further medication.

Two weeks later, I was happy, healthy, and whole, literally and figuratively. The medical release had allowed my mother to resume Christian Science treatment for me, and the healing response was quick and thorough. Two uncles, neither of them religious, vouched for the healing they’d seen and allowed my four cousins to be enrolled in the Christian Science Sunday School.

What I found during that healing can be summed up in a quote from Science and Health, “Unfathomable Mind is expressed. The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space. That is enough!” What I needed was already present; I just needed to unearth it so that no thought or thing hiding its true nature had any more power.

I’m reminded of those December holiday calendars with tiny windows to be opened, one each day, to disclose the picture behind. Each picture is complete, or so it seems, but when all have been opened, on December 25, one sees a much grander picture with all revealed, not only individually but also collectively.

We have that same opportunity every day – to see more of His creation in everyone and everything. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “…he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” I have found that Christian Science magnifies the law and enlarges my picture of it and its functions in my life. And this higher law gives me all that I need – and that is always enough.