A few years ago I started to have several physical problems that seemed to be overwhelming to me. Depression, fear, and abnormal eating habits were disrupting my life. This situation continued for several months, and I finally came to the point that I felt eating was impossible. I even thought I might pass on. I finally called a teacher of Christian Science and told her what I was experiencing. She invited me to stay at her home while I prayed regarding this healing. I initially rejected the offer, but I was getting so thin and had so little energy that I later agreed.
I knew that I needed to feel God's loving care for me. I had seen so much proof that Christian Science treatment is effective that I knew that if I gave my full devotion to God, healing would be inevitable. My family said goodbye to me, confident that I would be healed.
When I arrived at my friend's home, I started working at once on understanding better who God is and who I am as His reflection. I researched the term dominion. I knew that God gave man dominion over everything, as stated in the first chapter of Genesis. Nothing could take away what was rightfully mine. I was the perfect reflection of the divine original.
After two days, a New Year's get-together was planned. The food was lovingly prepared and served. I still ate very little, but I later told my hostess that she should put the food I'd been served into the refrigerator and that I would eat it in the morning or I would go without food. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy states, "... consult matter not at all, and eat what is set before you ..." (p. 222). That night I listened to God and saw that I was His obedient child. I knew the letter of Christian Science, but I seemed to need more of the spirit. Some helpful passages from Mrs. Eddy's writings opened up to me the importance of both the letter and the spirit to the practice of Christian Science. One statement that was particularly meaningful was from Science and Health: "Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit" (p. 495). Now I had to examine my thinking and also my actions. I was studying the letter and thinking about God in everything that I was doing. Wasn't that enough for healing? What more must I do?
Well, I decided to think about imbibing the spirit. Was I so spiritual that I didn't need to drink or eat properly? Who controlled me anyway? Didn't God give me dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and everything else? I was letting my stomach tell me what I could eat and how much I could eat. God never gave the stomach dominion! Immediately I took my stand for normalcy. God is Spirit, and I reflect the abundance of Spirit in action, courage, confidence, energy, flawlessness, freedom, liberty, limitlessness, practicality, and strength.
I got up in the morning, took out that cold food, and ate every bit of it. My stomach would never rule me again. I was a spiritual idea of God and through God capable of demonstrating the truth that would naturally make me free. That morning we all went to the service at a nearby Christian Science church and afterward went out to lunch. I ordered a plate of spaghetti and ate it all. The food never tasted better. The healing was and is permanent, and I have never suffered again from the false belief that the stomach can control me. At the same time the fear and depression that had been associated with this also disappeared. God didn't create a depressed idea or a fearful one. These were errors of material sense. I was filled with such peace and assurance of the Father's love for me. I was totally conscious of the dominion that God freely gives to each one of us, and I am joyous in this revelation.
"This new-born understanding, that neither food nor the stomach, without the consent of mortal mind, can make one suffer, brings with it another lesson,—that gluttony is a sensual illusion, and that this phantasm of mortal mind disappears as we better apprehend our spiritual existence and ascend the ladder of life" (Science and Health, pp. 221–222).
This is just one of the many healings that I've had through my study of Christian Science. I have been blessed in my association with The Mother Church, branch churches and societies, my Christian Science Students Association, and all the workers in this wonderful movement who are bringing Christ Jesus' and Mrs. Eddy's works to the forefront. My gratitude is unbounded.
Hollister, Missouri
