“Nothing in me could have done these works”

Julie Swannell

 When I first opened my copy of Christian Science in Germany earlier this month, I was surprised and delighted to see that it had a greeting on the inside front cover.  It was a gift from dear friends in Perth in 1994!  How special this makes it and how beautifully it marries with the opening paragraph of our book, where it tells of another book gift (the book was Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy) way back in 1896.

I’ve been noticing all the qualities of uplifted thought described in the text
as our author recounts the background which led to her taking up the work of establishing Christian Science in Germany, e.g.

·       Activity

·       Courage

·       Dedicated (lives and talents)

·       Deeply interested

·       Determined

·       Devoted

·       Divine promise

·       Doubt and depression forever extinguished

·       Earnestly

·       Enthusiastically

·       Insisted

·       Joyous with hope

·       Longing (to find God)

·       Obeying

·       Objections overruled

·       Proof

·       Usefulness

Especially inspiring (in the light of Ms Seal’s inability to speak German or to even know how to give a Christian Science treatment) are the comments of her Christian Science teacher, Laura Lathrop:  “Never mind, you have love, and the qualities of obedience and honesty, and they will carry you through; and God will show you how to do the work.”

 There is definitely a sense of doing God’s work and her purpose is to be “about my Father’s business” Luke 2:49.  So, despite what she refers to as “terrible shadows”, and with decided proof of healing (she describes two early examples of patients healed prior to her departure for Germany) Frances takes courage because “I knew that nothing in me could have done these works”.