In middle school, I was having a difficult time getting along with my parents and enjoying school. I always complained about the overload of homework and how I believed the majority of my teachers were unreasonable. I felt constantly stressed, overwhelmed, and frustrated. Eventually, I began taking out this anger on my parents, straining our relationship. Every little thing they did annoyed me, and I felt misunderstood.
Then, in the middle of the school year, I became sick and had to be pulled out of classes. What started out as minor symptoms gradually increased and became persistent. My mom prayed for me and shared ideas daily, but, as had become typical for me, I only became agitated with her. I stubbornly held to the thought that the sickness would pass on its own. However, when I began to experience severer symptoms, I decided to call a Christian Science practitioner for help and also to listen to the ideas my mom was sharing.
My practitioner and my mother discussed metaphysical truths with me, and I began praying earnestly with each truth and spiritual idea. While I don’t remember any specific quotes from the Bible or Mary Baker Eddy’s writings we talked about, I know we worked with the idea of health in order to recognize that, as the reflection of God, I could reflect only God’s perfect, unchangeable nature. My body could not tell me I was sick or well since a material body is not part of who I really am—a spiritual idea of God.
