One weekend a number of years ago, I was in New York City, where I was to address the annual meeting of the Christian Science students’ association of which I was a member. (Our Christian Science teacher had passed on a few years before.) For me, this was a very special honor. The addresses at Christian Science associations are meant to uplift and refresh thought and strengthen the spiritual healing practice of those attending, who have each completed Primary class instruction with a Christian Science teacher.
I woke up in my hotel the morning of the address really pumped up and looking forward to the occasion. But as I swung my legs out of bed, a searing pain shot through my back and I collapsed on the floor. I had been having back pain like this sporadically for over a decade and had prayed on and off about it. Although I managed to get up and take a few steps, within a minute or two the spasms returned.
Instantly I saw this for what it was: material resistance to the spiritual truth the address would be affirming and exploring that day. This resistance was coming as the aggressive mental suggestion that God was not omnipresent and omnipotent—an error of
belief that was trying to take away from a wonderful occasion.
