Acts 17:28 says, referring to God, “In him we live, and move, and have our being.” A year ago in May when getting out of bed I suddenly experienced excruciating pain in my back. I could barely move. I didn’t want to accept this condition.
So I asked myself the following question: Do I really live in Him, in God’s kingdom, if I can barely crawl out of bed? If I’m not even able to sit down on the floor to play with my little granddaughters, let alone get back up? Do I need to avoid all physical activity and allow my freedom of movement to be heavily restricted? “This cannot be true!” I said to myself. And in reality it wasn’t true and it wasn’t real, because if I know that I live “in God,” then I also realize that I cannot experience pain, since God is only good.
I wasn’t feeling sad or desperate, because I knew, “There is a way for this to be healed!” I had only to see that way and then walk in it. Immediately I remembered a verse from the Gospel of John: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
“Now that’s a good start,” I thought confidently. Now I had to get clear on what this spiritual truth was, and how it applied to me. I read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, as well as other Christian Science literature. My confidence increased, and even though the pain was still there, I felt as if I was inwardly smiling. While I was reading, I forgot about the pain; it seemed to me that I had more important things to do than dwell on disease and pain. I didn’t want to nurture the suggestion of physical disability, and I didn’t want to attribute any more power to it, since it had no power in the first place.
Instead, I reflected upon the following truth: “Because man is the reflection of his Maker, he is not subject to birth, growth, maturity, decay” (Science and Health, p. 305). Rather than being afraid that I might not be able to properly move again, I decided to pray about my God-given qualities and possibilities, such as movement, freedom, joy, activity, etc.
So I flatly rejected the claim of disease, pain, degeneration, symptoms of old age—just as I would vehemently refuse receipt of a package that I hadn’t ordered. These thoughts, these claims about materiality, would attempt to adulterate divine Truth. As the reflection of God we are perfect, without any faults or defects. In an article titled “Freedom from suffering” by Inman H. Douglass, published in the September 1958 issue of the German Herald I read: “Man has never been sick, diseased, [nor] in pain … Actually, man, the man of God’s making, is forever in a state of perfect being and can never get out of it.”
We prove the unreality of disease by prayerfully rejecting its claim to be real and perceiving instead the reality of spiritual harmony. This mental change brings healing because the body is not matter; it is consciousness. In other words, it is the manifestation of thought. The material evidence often deceives us by imposing a belief of disease or injury on our thought, hiding divine reality. Reality is always purely spiritual and is governed by God’s perfect laws. God is divine Principle and is perfectly harmonious.
When I comprehended this, I was healed within a few days. I stopped worrying about my well-being. I went about my days and didn’t leave any room for sickness in my thoughts. I was able to move freely again and play with my granddaughters.
This experience taught me the following: As a divine idea I express all good and necessary qualities, including freedom of movement. All these qualities are spiritual and therefore indestructible.
This healing has been permanent and has enabled me to stay physically active. I’m so grateful to God for this healing, which has been a big step forward in understanding my true selfhood.
