A few months ago, I awoke in the night in extreme pain. I had been sound asleep and could not tell where in my body the pain was located. I only knew that it seemed like the worst pain I had ever felt, which momentarily reduced my confidence to heal it through prayer. But having experienced healings through Christian Science many times before, still I was determined to try.
In my public practice of Christian Science, I had been praying for a couple of patients and a family member who were experiencing pain, so approaching this issue prayerfully had been at the forefront of thought. However, I had not been including myself in the truths I was acknowledging for those I was praying for. But I knew those truths to be universal, and that night, I immediately turned to God and began praying for myself with “the scientific statement of being” found in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (see p. 468).
I was aware that each idea given in that statement, which indicates that our true identity is spiritual, not material, was a universal truth that had the power to heal. My job was to ponder each idea until I really became conscious of the truth of it. I knew this prayerful realization would make me feel closer to God and could heal me. But, although these truths brought inspiration and I knew them to be true, the pain continued.
