“I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints” (Psalms 85:8). The words of the Psalmist have been a constant guide to me in my growth as a student of Christian Science, and have often been a helpful impetus in being more effective in my healing practice. These comforting words have encouraged me to listen more to God, divine Mind, instead of to the aggressive mental arguments of suffering, when faced with challenges.
I’ve found that when I turn thought to God in order to feel His loving assurances of care and protection, His tender guidance has unfolded more tangibly to my consciousness the truth of my spiritual nature and consequent immunity from discord. This disciplined approach in the face of distress or disease has healed me of many physical challenges over the years.
Recently, I had a small experience where applying these ideas enabled me to quickly overcome a sudden illness. One morning I awoke and was getting dressed to go out for my normal morning run. I suddenly became very nauseous. In the past, I had been tempted to just let such situations run their course. But this time, a mental protest arose in me. I felt inspiration from God encouraging me not to give in to the belief of involuntary action. I saw that the power of the omniaction of Love was the only real action going on in me.
I recalled one of my favorite passages in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. It gives such loving and helpful guidance, and the last part of it articulates some things that God, the divine Mind, does for us: “We must learn how mankind govern the body,—whether through faith in hygiene, in drugs, or in will-power. We should learn whether they govern the body through a belief in the necessity of sickness and death, sin and pardon, or govern it from the higher understanding that the divine Mind makes perfect, acts upon the so-called human mind through truth, leads the human mind to relinquish all error, to find the divine Mind to be the only Mind, and the healer of sin, disease, death” (p. 251).
I began deeply reasoning with this passage showing how God was helping me, even in the face of the aggressive physical challenges. I saw that everything about divine Mind’s spiritual creation was perfect, complete, whole, without a hint of imperfection or distress. Even if I was tempted to believe that I had a mind separate from the divine Mind and could be temporarily deceived into believing in the reality of disease, God’s ever-present influence was there for me; I could open my thought to divine Mind, Truth, and let it flood my consciousness to correct and replace these errors with thoughts of peace, harmony, health, and well-being.
The way God leads us in overcoming material beliefs seemed so loving and tender to me. It was comforting to realize that even if I seemed stuck in erroneous thinking, my loving Father-Mother God was unfolding His presence and power to my thought in just the ways needed. I could totally surrender my belief of a mind separate from God to the fact of the one Mind, and feel and know God’s presence and power to heal me right then.
As I prayed in this way, the nausea faded to nothing. Within about ten minutes, all the symptoms had disappeared, and I went out for my run as usual that day. I love the fact that this passage from the Christian Science textbook describes what God is doing for us. Listening to those holy thoughts washing over my thinking enabled me to feel God’s healing influence. I’m so grateful for every opportunity I’m given to listen more to divine Mind’s guidance and experience healing.
Margit Hammerstrom
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
This is adapted from a testimony originally posted during The Mother Church’s online Wednesday testimony meeting.
