THE FIRST OF 2009 for me was a time of learning more about Christian Science and God's healing love. Last year I found that when I was in bed, pain in my legs was constant. I found relief each night only when I thought silently about "the scientific statement of being" from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (see p. 468), which told me that I was wholly spiritual. This would help me drop off to sleep.
While I could walk about normally on flat ground, lifting my legs or climbing stairs to my bedroom was very difficult and quite painful. I knew this wasn't spiritually true about me, and I knew that knowing the truth would free me as Christ Jesus promised. I prayed with many ideas such as there's only the circulation of right ideas going on; there's no pain in Truth, God; and a quote from Science and Health: "... the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not" (p. 495). While I had prayed with these spiritual ideas before, they now seemed to lack the inspiration needed for healing. I spoke with a Christian Science practitioner who helped me see that nothing could destroy my capabilities, and that I was free because that's the way God made me.
At this time, my church life was filled with prayer for a wonderful, inspiring visit from two Reading Room workers who were visiting from The Mother Church. All was well until I tried to walk up the stairs or went to bed at night. I knew that nothing was too hard for God and that prayer was the only way to progress. I have always loved this passage in Science and Health, "The Science Jesus taught and lived must triumph over all material beliefs about life, substance, and intelligence, and the multitudinous errors growing from such beliefs" (p. 43). I knew that this condition was just one of those errors of thought that could be healed by turning to the Christ.
