A number of years ago I felt a sizable hard mass develop in my lower abdomen. It was not painful in any way, but as it remained for many months, I was afraid of what the growth might be. A doctor recommended surgery. I knew that I did not want to go that route; I wanted to rely on God and continue learning and relying on the truth that Christ Jesus taught and demonstrated. After all, Jesus reassured us, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32). I’d experienced other significant healings through my study and practice of Christian Science.
I played tennis every week with a friend from the local Christian Science Society where we were members. When I told her about the mass and the doctor’s comments, she said something arresting. I will never forget it. Without any hesitation she said: “I don’t care what they say; it’s just nothing. No matter how many zeros are put in a row, they still add up to zero.” In those few words she dismissed the entire material claim. No sympathizing with my plight. No questions for details. No lengthy expounding. Just immediate knowing and declaring the truth of man, made in the image of God. I said something like “OK, then.” Then we continued on with our tennis game.
A couple of days later when I lay tummy-side down on a lounge chair, I felt absolutely nothing—the mass was just gone! So what had happened to effect this dramatic change? After the comment from my friend, my thought had suddenly shifted from nagging fear to the peace of recognizing that matter is actually nothing—that God is Spirit, so man is spiritual and expresses only God’s goodness—no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Simple, profound, powerful. Paul says in Hebrews that “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (4:12). This was certainly illustrated in my experience.
