Several years ago, I awoke on a Monday morning with discomfort in my back. Both lying down and sitting up were very uncomfortable. Much of my time that day was spent at home in prayer for myself. My wife agreed to prayerfully support me also.
A Bible verse brought me great peace: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” (Isaiah 60:1). This helped me see myself as a spiritual, immortal idea of God, and not a mortal with a physical problem. I know that because I am God’s expression, God is the source of my strength and ability.
The next day, not much had changed physically, though I did find enough strength to prepare readings for a Wednesday evening testimony meeting at our branch Church of Christ, Scientist, where I served as First Reader. This included selecting passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
To support this activity and my prayers for healing, I contacted a Christian Science practitioner. The practitioner spoke to me about God’s love, and how I couldn’t be kept from fulfilling the role of Reader.
I completed the readings, and as I prepared for church on Wednesday, I found the discomfort was disappearing. So I had dinner and went to church that evening with renewed strength.
Though I was able to conduct the service, by the time I reached my car afterward, the discomfort had returned. When I arrived home, I reported this to the practitioner, who continued to support me. This back-and-forth with the pain was showing me the unreality of the entire situation. I knew that nothing in or of matter has power to return under any circumstance, because God is the one and only power.
During that week, I continued to work with the practitioner, and also kept in touch with my workplace. On Friday morning, I called my boss to say that I would again need the day off. He mentioned that should I require more time off, I’d need to officially ask for “sick leave.”
In my prayers, I contemplated what my boss had said. It seemed quite humorous to me that a student of Christian Science would require sick leave. Since I knew that health is normal for all of God’s children and that sickness is an illusion, suddenly “sick leave” sounded quite funny to me. In fact, I laughed out loud. As I laughed, I felt the discomfort beginning to melt away. I truly saw the unreality of the pain, and realized that God would never require me or anyone to be ill for any amount of time, or make a plan for illness.
That Sunday morning, I woke up, got dressed, and performed my duties as First Reader. The freedom from discomfort was so incredible that it felt like an Easter Sunday; I’d risen above a false sense of myself as subject to limitations. The next day, I returned to the office without so much as a twinge of discomfort, completely free.
A friend and fellow coworker stopped me to talk, and in our conversation he mentioned that his brother, whom I knew well, had been in the hospital for two weeks. He then went on to describe the very same symptoms I’d had the week before. He said that the doctors could not identify his brother’s ailment.
This conversation led me to think about man as an idea. As Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: “Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit” (p. 475). I could see that since God’s man is spiritual and unimpeded, there was no condition or element that could inhibit my, or anyone’s, ability to fulfill important duties. For this healing, and other healings in my family over many years, I am most grateful.
Jay David Schuck
Springfield, Virginia, US
