One day in the spring of 2017, I felt a sharp pain in my body. After two days of dealing with the discomfort on my own, I knew something needed to change. I asked a Christian Science practitioner for help.
The practitioner agreed to pray for me and reminded me that I am loved by God and that I am made in His likeness, perfect and all good. I affirmed my perfection and held on to the idea that I could “banish the belief that you can possibly entertain a single intruding pain which cannot be ruled out by the might of Mind …” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 391).
While I was making spiritual progress, the condition seemed to grow worse and I was having a hard time sleeping since no position was comfortable.
At one point I felt hopeless and discouraged, so the practitioner addressed my discouragement by sharing Hymn 139 from the Christian Science Hymnal. Part of the first verse reads, “The joy that none can take away / Is mine; I walk with Love today” (Minny M. H. Ayers). I mentally insisted that joy was given to me by God and that it could never leave me. As I embraced being more joyful my burden became lighter, and I began to see this healing as an opportunity to grow.
The practitioner also pointed out that I didn’t have to give in to the belief that pain has substance and reality. God, divine Love, is all substance and reality. My identity is spiritual, immortal. So how could I accept the false belief that I was trapped in a painful body? I couldn’t! I knew I couldn’t accept a mortal conclusion, because any such conclusion would be unjust. Instead I could commit to justice, which is obedience to God’s law.
I affirmed that God is just and right (see Deuteronomy 32:4), and I prayed to accept that “nothing is real but the right” (Science and Health, p. 228).
I held my ground and was encouraged to “be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God’s government” (Science and Health, p. 393).
While I was praying with the idea of justice, a family member, who wasn’t even aware of my specific challenge, shared passages from the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings with me that were on this topic. This was evidence that God, divine Mind, was meeting my need and was continuing to point out the way.
After a few days, the fear and the pain left. I felt so much joy and gratitude for this complete healing!
I saw more clearly that injustice has no foothold, and no foundation on which to build, because God’s law is always in operation. God governs man rightly, so we can’t be fooled into believing reports from the physical senses.
The Comforter, the message of divine Science, proved to be my comfort during this trying experience. I’m so grateful for Christian Science and its practical application and for the steadfast Christian Science practitioners who support our progress.
Kim Sheasley
Brookline, Massachusetts, US
