Several years ago, I experienced three episodes of heart attack symptoms over a six-month period.
The first was at home with my three college-age children. We were new to Christian Science, so this was the first time they had witnessed such an intense challenge addressed through prayer. They remained stalwart in dealing with their own fears while I prayed through the difficulty with the help of a Christian Science practitioner. Within an hour the symptoms disappeared.
The second episode occurred while I was in the car with my two oldest children. My son was driving, and my daughter called the Christian Science practitioner. Knowing that God is all good and all-powerful, I silently stated, “This is not true; this is not real.”
After 15 minutes of what appeared to be an alarming situation, my son suggested we go to an urgent care facility. My daughter emphatically supported this idea. Sensing their fear, the practitioner expressed her support for whatever I felt was the right decision. For a brief moment, I found the situation so ironic that I laughed. In retrospect, I believe my laughter was a signal that the fear and mesmeric grip of belief in this ailment had already begun to diminish.
Then thoughts of what an urgent care visit would entail flashed through my mind, as I had lived the majority of my life turning to material medicine in times of illness. I also knew this visit could result in huge expenses. I became incensed at the prospect of a mortal lie imposing such burdens, and I mentally declared, “I am not paying for this!” The pain vanished.
The third time I was alone at my desk. As soon as I felt the first symptoms, I called the practitioner. Within moments, the symptoms disappeared. After hanging up the phone, I pondered why these episodes had continued to occur. The answer came immediately through the “still, small voice” that I had come to know so well: “Because you never decided to be finished with this belief.”
So, I decided to be finished with it right then. I saw a heart attack as a false, mortal belief and dismissed it as an illusion over which I had complete, God-given dominion. That was the end of the problem. This final victory did not require any effort of my own other than to simply accept what God, through Christ, Truth, was conveying to me—of my unconditional freedom from sickness or harm, as God’s child.
Sometime afterward, I realized that within the material medical environment in which I had grown up, heart attacks were accepted as “running in the family”; and in spite of my exceptionally good health, my physician had routinely tested me in anticipation of this problem. So this expectation had been in my thought undetected until it surfaced several years ago. I have had no heart problems since this healing.
I am deeply grateful that my practice of Christian Science supplied me with the tools and the confidence to dismiss this imposition when it emerged. I was able to recognize it as a baseless delusion of material thought, having no law of God behind it. I am also deeply grateful for the Christian Science practitioner who prayerfully stood with me, undaunted, while I learned the magnitude and reliability of God, divine Principle. And I am deeply grateful for my children, who surrounded me with pure and trusting love as we walked through this challenge together.
Laura Leigh Robinson
St. Louis, Missouri, US
