Question 2: Share a testimony other than physical healing in which reading one or more of Skip’s articles had played an important part in your own spiritual study and prayer and final demonstration.

My children drop copious amounts of food on the floor, supplying our dog Lucy with an almost never-ending source of treats. At times, Lucy gets stuck behind our baby gate and lies there sadly, seemingly blocked from all those good things. All I do is open the gate and she bounds over, devouring the morsels ready for her. 

This past year, I also seemed to be trapped behind a gate, but my gate consisted of fear, doubt, and distrust. My kindergartener was really struggling in school, and I felt helpless to support him in his journey. I kept asking myself How can I fix this? But as Skip writes in “The kind of consciousness we need now” (Journal, December 1986), “When we suppose we have a mortal mind, we open ourselves to everything that the false impression of mind in matter includes.

This mesmeric impression is filled with vivid doubts, materialism, and despair.” Working with Skip’s articles, I began “opening the door to the infinite ideas and intelligence of Divine Mind,” which he describes in “Christian Science Treatment: ‘method infinitely above that of human invention’” (Journal, October 1986). By releasing my sense of personal responsibility and human power, God’s loving care became apparent. I stopped outlining what I thought had to happen with my son’s school situations. I also began seeing my son in a new light.

Around that time, I attended a conference at work, where the keynote speaker stressed that parents who focused on their children’s positive qualities instead of their physical appearance or negative qualities, were proven to be better parents. This drove home how the world is beginning to recognize that seeing our fellow men—and our children—as perfect reflections of Soul makes a difference. I’m so grateful for the progress that my family has seen these past weeks!