I'VE BEEN GRATEFUL for many years for this powerful statement in Science and Health: "Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed material foundations of life and intelligence" (p. 535). It occurs in the chapter that amplifies the scientific meaning of verses in the book of Genesis, just after Eve has been told, "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children" (Gen. 3:16). This "chief blow" delivered by the truths in divine Science has brought me a number of healings from the whole "Eve package" that predicts suffering to women through menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause.
As a teenager, when I initially experienced menstrual discomfort, to find relief I turned intuitively to what I was learning in the Christian Science Sunday School and in my study of the Bible and Science and Health. One statement from Science and Health that I prayed with was, "That body is most harmonious in which the discharge of the natural functions is least noticeable" (p. 478). This idea helped me in not pinpointing and accepting the widely held beliefs and general pronouncements concerning menstruation and other aspects of puberty—to simply not go down that path. As I progressively turned from the so-called inevitability of adverse physical effects and let a more spiritual concept of my identity take hold in thought, the discomfort I'd experienced disappeared, and my teen years became a time of natural, painless development.
In similar territory, the blessings of steering clear of material and physical theories continued when I became pregnant with my first child. A Christian Science practitioner whom I'd asked to pray with me recommended that I not read about the illnesses and discomforts that sometimes accompany childbearing. I recognized the wisdom of this, as encouraging an uncompromising trust in what God is continually revealing to us about our spiritual perfection, no matter what our circumstances.
