One winter during a severe flu epidemic, I had a lingering cough and difficulty breathing. The condition was not healed through my own prayers, so I called a Christian Science practitioner for support. Often as a patient calling for metaphysical help, I experience healing with little effort on my part. This time, though, I felt I should be doing more to correct my own thought.
I tried to listen to audio content on JSH-Online.com for inspiration, but my tablet computer was having technical problems. However, the thought came that I was not dependent on a tablet or any other device; I could simply turn to God and listen spiritually.
As I prayed, I realized that every true spiritual function is a spiritual ability that man has as God’s reflection, and this truth applied to my breathing. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Every function of the real man is governed by the divine Mind.… The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness.… All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal” (p. 151).
For a few moments I pondered what it means to be included in God’s harmonious creation. I understood the importance of filling our thoughts with Truth, so I began reading the Christian Science books and magazines I had available in print. That was the end of the breathing difficulty.
After studying, I had a restful night, but the following day I suffered new symptoms that other people had mentioned experiencing. I thought perhaps I should have been more sympathetic to others when they described their suffering from the ailment. But after speaking with the practitioner, I recognized that I was agreeing with error, rather than destroying it by denying its reality altogether.
The practitioner encouraged me to remember that I was encircled in God’s protection. I also thought of what Science and Health says: “The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord,—not because this Science is supernatural or preternatural, nor because it is an infraction of divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God, good” (p. 134).
I acknowledged that God’s laws were in effect right then for everyone, and all symptoms disappeared quickly. I understood that this outcome wasn’t due to God’s special care just for me. The healing results of prayer are available to anyone receptive to God’s law of harmony.
Shirley Sims Schmidt
Meadowlakes, Texas, US
