Gratitude being a spiritual idea, its activity brought to bear on our problems helps to solve them. I have demonstrated this for myself many times. I experienced an instance of the healing efficacy of gratitude in a case of blood poisoning. My foot became so stiff and the pain so intense that I could not think clearly. I took up the Christian Science Hymnal and read and sang hymns until gratitude for all that Christian Science had done for me predominated in my thought, and I determined to express thanks to God through our periodicals. The pain and stiffness became somewhat lessened, and upon retiring I was able to sleep. I awakened in the night completely healed. It was like awakening from a bad dream —a joyful experience never to be forgotten.
Another experience of the healing effects of gratitude was during a case of tonsillitis. The condition persisted for some days, and being very busy at the time I neglected to do specific work on the condition, probably because it did not cause much discomfort. It was at a standstill, until one day I declared out loud, "I am grateful that I know that this error does not belong to me." Immediately something seemed to let go in my throat, and that was the end of the difficulty.
Several years ago an act of spite, with intent to injure, was directed towards a member of our family. In working to overcome a sense of resentment, I was led to read an article in the Christian Science Sentinel depicting the powerlessness of evil. It brought out the thought that if one is not expressing good, he is not expressing power at all. This brought to me such a clear sense of the powerlessness of anything unlike good that the sense of resentment and regret instantly lifted.
