ONE NIGHT MY RIGHT UPPER ARM became painful, and it was difficult for me to move it. Soon I felt a constant, throbbing pain in the entire arm. It became so overwhelming that I couldn't sleep or find a comfortable position in which to hold my arm.
As I lay in bed, I began to pray, which got me thinking about what was real to me. The pain certainly felt real, but I knew from my study of Christian Science that because the pain wasn't from God, since God is Love, then it couldn't possibly be real. God's love being the reality meant that I could expect freedom from this—and any—ailment.
I thought about a statement I'd recently studied from the weekly Bible Lesson found in the Christian Science Quarterly. It was from Science and Health, and it reads, "Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being" (p. 264). I savored the opportunity to think about the depth of meaning and promise that this statement held. Could a painful arm truly be my reality? Not if Spirit formed me and made me perfect. I wanted to move beyond the pain and see that God forms all reality—and that reality can only express His nature, which is good.
Then I thought of another powerful statement from Science and Health. This one, which explains the basis for Christian Science healing, says, "The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation" (p. xi).
Praying with these thoughts, I was struck by the fact that because Christian Science is a science, it requires a proof—the proof being that divine Principle is always operating and cancels out the supposed reality of sin and disease. The proof, or effect, of this operation, as we understand it, is healing.
After praying with these ideas, I noticed the pain simply drained from my arm, and I was able to sleep for the remainder of the night. In the morning the use of my arm was nearly normal, and by afternoon it was completely restored to its full range of motion. In fact, there's never been any return of the pain and discomfort.
This experience gave me that hallowed peace and deep joy one feels as the result of spiritual healing—a closeness that comes from feeling loved by God.
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA, US
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