As I was writing this article, I wondered which word or words people would emphasize when reading the title. I realized that they could put the emphasis on any one of the seven words. Try it. But no matter which one is stressed, the statement, when referring to some human woe, has a negative connotation, suggesting fear, vulnerability, danger, and chance.
These words "I never had anything like this before" were actually spoken to a Christian Science practitioner by someone who was requesting help through prayer for a physical problem. The practitioner quickly responded: "Of course you never did, and you don't have it now! And neither has any other idea of God." Does that answer sound incredible or insensitive? Not to one who is learning something about his real identity as the image and likeness of God and is exercising his God-given spiritual sense to gain a conviction of the truth.
The practitioner's response, beginning "Of course you never did"—especially those two words "of course"—immediately started to awaken the patient to his and others' original perfection, forever unchanged and safe as God's man, subject only to the law of God. This brought healing.
