This past winter, my husband and I traveled to the Caribbean for a vacation with my brother and sister-in-law. In the afternoon on the third day, while swimming in a pool, I started to feel dizzy and nauseous. I decided to go back to my room, and as I made my way back, I started to experience stomach pain. I was in a lot of discomfort.
I stayed back from dinner that night to address this physical challenge head on through prayer. I first addressed the belief that food could have power over me. We were at an all-inclusive resort, which meant all the food was included in the price of the stay. While this perk was fun at first, it made it easy to over-indulge and ascribe too much power to food.
I started to pray to get a clear understanding of a statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, in a section describing a healing of indigestion through Christian Science. The statement reads: “Food had less power to help or to hurt him after he had availed himself of the fact that Mind governs man, and he also had less faith in the so-called pleasures and pains of matter” (p. 222). I started to realize how silly the whole concept of intelligent matter really is, as it claims to possess both good and bad qualities—sometimes pleasurable, sometimes painful. It was becoming clearer to me that anything discordant could not be a part of me because it was not included in my relation to God.
For a while I was having trouble finding relief, but I kept striving to keep my thought straight and remain confident in God’s power. At one point my family sat by my bedside and asked if I would like to listen to a few hymns. I said yes, and the first hymn they played was “Mother’s Evening Prayer,” which is one of my favorites, and originally written as a poem by Mrs. Eddy. It was almost as soon as I heard the words “O gentle presence, peace and joy and power” (Poems, p. 4), that I fell asleep.
I slept most of the night and only had to get up a few times. I was grateful for this progress but was still feeling ill and weak the next morning. We had booked an excursion to a water park for this day, and it was non-refundable. I had been looking forward to swimming in a lagoon at this park that was a natural wonder of the country we had traveled to. So I decided I would just try and go; I felt this would be best for the group, and I reasoned that maybe by taking my stand I would feel better throughout the day.
When we arrived at the water park, I was somewhat down for the count. When we got to the main area, everyone went swimming in the pool, and I just sat in a chair and cried for a minute. Once the pity party was over, I knew that I couldn’t go on for an entire day like this. It was then that I turned completely to God. I knew He would give me the strength needed for this day. Hymn 320 in the Christian Science Hymnal states:
Mere human energy shall faint,
And youthful vigor cease;
But those who wait upon the Lord
In strength shall still increase.
(Isaac Watts)
After lunch we decided to hike to the lagoon, which was on the other side of the park. My brother and his wife had already headed that way. There was a sign that said it was about 1,000 yards on a trail to get there. As I did the mental math, I told my husband that we should go as far as I could and take breaks as needed. We started on this hike, and as we passed each marker telling us we were getting closer, I started to feel more and more relief. At one point we came across a giant set of stairs with a bridge going through the jungle, and I looked at my husband and said, “How am I going to do this?” He just replied, “Lean on God each step of the way.”
I climbed these steps, and by the time I reached the top, I had total physical freedom. All of the discomfort in my stomach left, I was no longer nauseous, and my energy levels were being restored. By the time I reached the lagoon, I was completely healed! When I arrived, my brother said, “Wow, you must have had a healing on your way over.” I jumped into the lagoon and felt so incredibly grateful to God, divine Truth, for breaking the mesmerism. I kept thanking Him throughout the rest of our day.
To illustrate just how complete the healing was, at the end of the day when we were all getting ready to head back to the hotel, I mentioned that I had wanted to do the zip-lining course, which spanned the entire park and had a difficult hiking element to it. Everyone agreed we should do it, and we completed it successfully! As I was climbing up the side of a rock face, I looked down at my family and said: “Working out a challenge yesterday to scaling a mountain today. The life of a Christian Scientist!”
I am incredibly grateful for this healing and what it taught me about our true source of energy and health. I am also grateful to our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, for accepting God’s revelation of, and giving to us, the divine Science of Christ Jesus’ healing work.
Jacqueline Ball
Jacksonville Beach, Florida, US
