Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has given us a strong weapon to use in overcoming the belief of sin, disease, and death—an understanding of the allness of Spirit, God, and the nothingness of matter.
On an extended automobile trip with my husband, I was stricken with a painful, swollen condition in my foot and leg, which made it very difficult to walk or even to sit still in the car. The temptation was very great to say, "It is nothing. It will soon disappear." But it did not. Ignoring trouble will not heal it. Its nothingness has to be proved.
As I prayed to be shown the way, I recalled Jesus' many healings. In most cases his instructions were a simple command: "Stretch forth thine hand" (Matt. 12:13); to the man at Bethesda, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk" (John 5:8); to Lazarus, "Come forth" (11: 43); to Jairus' daughter, "Damsel, . . . arise" (Mark 5:41); and to the blind man, "Receive thy sight" (Luke 18:42). The efficacy of Jesus' commands lay in his understanding of the divine All-power, his Christly concept of the perfect man created in God's image and likeness, and the Master's utter rejection of matter and its claim to reality. As those seeking his help were obedient to Jesus' commands, they received healing. I thought of the clear and direct instructions Mrs. Eddy has given in the textbook, Science and Health, and I realized that as students of Christian Science are obedient to her instructions, based on the same healing Christ-principle, they can expect healings also.
