Since my childhood, the harmattan season had always been a very difficult time for me. [Editor’s note: Harmattan is a wind on the West African coast.] I often felt a lot of anguish as this season was coming near. It is characterized by hot and dry east winds and by a dust-filled atmosphere. It was difficult for me to breathe. I would catch colds; I would cough and have headaches. These aches were chronic, and they kept me from living normally at that time of year. They were also considered to be incurable.
A few years ago, after finding Christian Science, I decided it was time to heal this situation through prayer. I turned to the teachings of Christian Science, studying the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Prayer consists in elevating our thought spiritually in order to better understand God and His creation, and our real spiritual identity. The Bible shows that God made everything perfectly. I understood that this absolute truth about creation was true about the whole universe, so I could apply this truth through prayer to how the seasons affected me.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Bible says, “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him” (3:14). From this, it follows that the perfection and harmony of the universe including man are perpetual. Therefore, for me too there was no season, no harmful wind to cause sickness, since the spiritual man and creation emanate from God and exist in harmony. So I didn’t have to be afraid of the harmattan.
It became clear to me that my reason for being was to express God.
Affirming this truth was the basis of my prayer. I strove to better understand the spiritual facts regarding God’s creation. I cherished the pure and perfect nature of man, having dominion over all. In Science and Health, it is written: “The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind’s creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness—yea, the divine nature—appear in man and the universe never to disappear” (p. 509).
This spiritual understanding allowed me to overcome the fear that came from the false belief that creation is material and not spiritual. I knew that from then on I shouldn’t pay any more attention to the laws of material belief, which are false and unreal, but I should challenge them. I was becoming more conscious of my spiritual nature, which is always sinless and intact. This spiritual nature of man does not change and cannot be damaged by material belief. The so-called physical laws have no power whatsoever over the spiritual man.
Instead of being afraid and thinking constantly about the aches claiming to exist because of a seasonal wind, I was instead affirming my permanent spiritual perfection. I was certain that God governed in every circumstance.
Day after day, I realized that perfection has always characterized me as the perfect image of God; that harmony is inherent in my spiritual nature. It became clear to me that my reason for being was to express God, and that in understanding my real being I would have dominion over everything that didn’t reflect God’s perfection. The most important thing for me was to faithfully acknowledge and understand God’s law of harmony, which governs all. I knew that harmony was my divine and inalienable right, which God has bestowed on every one of His children.
With this spiritual understanding, I had the assurance that my life was harmonious, without any disease in any season. The fear of harmattan started to fade away and finally disappear.
I was completely healed a year or two after starting to pray about this. Since then, I have not suffered from these chronic aches, and I am now perfectly healthy during this time of year that I used to dread so much. This reminded me of when Mary Baker Eddy healed a woman who breathed with great difficulty when the wind came from the east (see Science and Health, p. 184). For me, too, the wind did not change, but my thought about it has.
