At one point a recurring illness caused me great distress, and I prayed to overcome it. The condition seemed to follow a course and lasted several hours. Finally, one evening when the initial symptoms reappeared, I felt I simply couldn't go through that again, and I knew intuitively that it was right for me to do the healing work on my own. I saw it was important, however, that the Christian Science treatment be quick and decisive.
Always before, pain had been so pronounced that within moments I couldn't think clearly enough to handle my own case, and so I had asked for assistance from a Christian Science practitioner. But this time, having recently been more diligent in my study and practice of Christian Science I felt ready for the challenge.
Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy states (p. 393): "Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good." This I did. Though the pain was extreme, I vowed not to let it maintain control of my thinking. Rising in rebellion against the pain, I grasped instantly the first spiritual truth that came to thought—that man is God's image— and worked with it. I refused to let up or to allow myself to yield to the pain. Then other truths came to mind, and I continued pondering each one. I knew I was not working to heal a physical body but to spiritualize my consciousness.
