Last year I experienced a sharp pain in the side of my torso. This pain seemed to come out of nowhere. It lasted several minutes at a time and recurred on numerous occasions throughout the day. I felt considerable discomfort and sometimes dizziness during this time.
I knew I wanted to use what I had been taught in Christian Science to overcome this difficulty. I had experienced many healings before through Christian Science, and I knew I could trust God, divine Mind, to heal me this time as well.
I had been reading Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer, Amplified Edition. In reading some of the healings, the thought occurred to me that what I was going through might have been a very small thing to Mrs. Eddy, but it was something really big to me. After four days, the pain wasn’t yielding, so I kept reading to gain inspiration.
I wanted more than anything to gain my peace. I used some of the healing ideas in that book to pray and change the basis of my thought. The following counsel from Mrs. Eddy was particularly helpful: “. . . you must not allow yourself to fear or to believe that there is a mind apart from God, a power or a person that can govern or affect you but God. . . . you can resist all else but God. You can know there is naught else and destroy all supposed effects of any supposed power over you but Good, Life, Truth, divine Love” (p. 248).
I knew the pain couldn’t possibly touch me because in the realm of pure, perfect, infinite Mind, it didn’t exist and it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be true in the realm of infinite Love, which is always present. Evil (including pain) is not a reality.
I knew that perfect Mind, God, was where I lived right then. I was totally surrounded and protected by the infinitude of divine Love. In this perfect realm there could be no discomfort or pain, and my experience could be only good, harmonious, and perfect.
The following citation from Science and Health provided me with further inspiration: “Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously” (p. 392).
The frequency and duration of the pain lessened over the next three days as I kept holding firmly to the truth of myself as a spiritual idea, knowing, too, that my body didn’t define me.
I knew God did not want me to suffer and that this pain could not possibly be part of His plan. The thought of me as a suffering mortal was completely done away with as I kept pondering deeply my perfection as God’s daughter, flawless and painless.
Then, there was one moment when I felt a total, absolute conviction of my present perfection as an idea of God. I felt the realness and closeness of God. The pain just dissolved, and I was at peace. I knew I was completely healed. This healing has been permanent.
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, US
