Toward the end of a vacation my husband and I took on a beautiful island, I woke up in the early morning experiencing first discomfort, then pain in my stomach. As a lifelong Christian Scientist, I knew instantly that the body did not have any authority to tell me the status of my health. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy states, “Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the subject of health” (p. 120). I began praying with “the scientific statement of being” found in the same book and with the Lord’s Prayer.
After about an hour, while I had moments of relief, the pain worsened. I thought about how our view of the ocean waves from our hotel room was so peaceful and pleasant. How was it that I was inside this room feeling waves of pain and turbulence?
At that point, I reached out to a Christian Science practitioner for help. I also woke my husband and asked him to read hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal out loud. The practitioner reassured me that I was spiritual and that my spiritual identity was firmly established in God, good.
