After returning from military service in the Korean War, I was given a clean bill of health at my final physical examination before being discharged from the Army. Within a few weeks, I had to change a tire on my car on a little-used desert road. It was a physically difficult task, and I appeared to strain myself, resulting in all the symptoms of a hernia. As this condition became increasingly uncomfortable, my study of the Bible and Science and Health became more intense, and my prayers led me to a deeper understanding of the goodness and supporting Love that is God. My healing came during the Sunday church service. The subject of the Bible Lesson that week (found in the Christian Science Quarterly) was "Sacrament." At the conclusion of this Lesson, the congregation is invited to kneel in prayer. As I responded to this invitation, I felt such a consciousness of God's love surrounding me that I knew no physical strain could impair or disrupt His spiritual likeness. The symptoms ceased immediately, and there has been no recurrence in the forty years since that Sunday. Required physical exams for employment and for a private pilot's license disclosed no signs of a hernia, and my activities have been unimpaired.
Several years ago, I found that I was rapidly losing the capability of moving one arm at the shoulder. Any attempt to move the arm was painful, and the upper arm did not respond to normal muscle movements. The simple act of putting on a shirt or jacket was difficult and painful. At first, I thought I must have twisted or pulled the shoulder in some way and that the pain would "go away" in a day or so. Well, it didn't. At this point I realized that I needed to gain a better understanding of man as God's spiritual reflection, and to know who really governs and controls man. This statement in Science and Health stood out to me: "It is the province of spiritual sense to govern man" (p. 206). And it was illuminated a few pages later by the explanation "Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God" (p. 209). I felt very encouraged to realize that I had the capacity to understand God and that this was governing my experience.
Required physical exams for employment and for a private pilot's license disclosed no signs of a hernia.
