For twelve years I suffered from chronic menstrual pain so severe that at the beginning of each cycle I became feverish and faint and had to stay in bed. Even worse was the fear that I would have this pain while at school or work, and would be unable to find a place to lie down. I was deeply disturbed at what appeared to be an inability to be free from this difficulty, even though I worked about it prayerfully myself and periodically had the help of a Christian Science practitioner.
Then, as one of the results of receiving class instruction in Christian Science, I was completely healed of this condition. What became so clear to me during this time was that God truly controls every function of man. Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 273), "Man is harmonious when governed by Soul." I reasoned that Soul, God, was governing the normal functions of my body and therefore that these functions could not hurt me. Also helpful in confronting the belief of fever was Mrs. Eddy's statement (ibid., p. 413) "Mind regulates the condition of the stomach, bowels, and food, the temperature of children and of men, and matter does not."
While I was praying about the irregularity of this function it occurred to me that certain of my attitudes about men and women needed to be set straight. For many years I had been impressed by the protest for an end to sex discrimination. What I had failed to understand, however, was that God's children all are equally loved and cared for by Him. Now I recognized that it was impossible for God to permit me or anyone else, whether humanly identified as male or female, to suffer. And I saw that I was demonstrating something far greater than dominion over a bodily function; I was being healed of false views of man—God's idea. With this new and truly healthy change of attitude came a normal monthly cycle. After years of struggle, I cannot describe how totally liberating this was—proof that a "stubborn" difficulty can be healed and that the needed adjustment always takes place when we recognize the facts of God and man.
