A friend and I had gone out for supper one night, and after an enjoyable meal we were driving to our next destination. By the time we were a couple of miles down the road I was in such pain that the bumps in the road had become unbearable, and I asked my friend to pull over. I had apparently eaten something rancid at dinner. We found a place where I could be comfortable and quiet for a few minutes.
A copy of Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy, was within easy reach. I opened to the question "What is Mind?" The answer begins simply, "Mind is God." It continues, "The exterminator of error is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind, and that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind— called devil or evil—is not Mind, is not Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality." Science and Health, p. 469. I rejected the suggestion that this evil had intelligence or reality. I denied the thought that a material body could be the authority on health, or that God's creation could be subject to pain, carelessness, or poor judgment. I rejoiced that all creation, as the outcome of divine Spirit, is actually spiritual, governed by a loving God. And I realized that right then and there God was in complete control of my situation, and nothing else was. Neither food nor fear can upset God's government! With that perception came peace, and in a shorter time than it takes to read this sentence, all pain was gone. That was fully the end of the matter. My friend and I were able to proceed according to our plans for the evening.
How is prayer, a mental activity, able to heal physical disease? By destroying, through the unopposable power of God, the fear and other mental elements that underlie disease. Bodily dysfunctions have no choice but to yield when our thought yields to God's perfect government, to the healing assurance of Love's presence and care. By recognizing God, supreme good, to be the only genuine source of thought and activity, and yielding to this truth, we effectively negate, render powerless, the fear that evil ever could have power in our lives. When fear dissipates, the body responds in ways that may seem miraculous to those unfamiliar with Christian healing. But healing is the perfectly natural result of the law of God understood and obeyed.
