Not helpless before ill health

THE Bible represents God as saying, ``I am the Lord that healeth thee.'' 1 This is not an empty promise. It comes to life for us in clear-cut physical healing when we are equipped with the practical understanding of God's eternal laws and of man's relationship to God. Christ Jesus demonstrated man's inseparability from the infinite good that is God. He proved by his cures of sin and disability that man's true selfhood, as created by God, is intact, eternally secure. And Christian Science, in harmony with the Way-shower's teachings, shows through healing that the actual identity of each child, man, and woman is spiritual, untouched by disfigurement or any kind of suffering.

The Master not only inspired mankind through his unequaled example; he indicated that as we follow his example, we can be free, and help free others, from mental and physical bondage. He promised, ``Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.'' 2

Because man is God's offspring, His image, as the Bible teaches, man is actually spiritual, uninterruptedly reflecting the Father's perfect nature. Appearances often contradict this truth. Yet fear, sickness, pain, which seem so real to the thought unaware of God's presence, recede and dissolve as one realizes in prayer the divine facts.

We can deal effectively through prayer with even the most challenging symptoms of pain and incapacity. I know. A while ago, I took time out from a busy day at my office to go to a small grocery store next door for some lunch to bring back to my desk. While midway down an aisle I felt a stab of pain in my side. I literally could not move an inch, the discomfort was so severe. I couldn't even walk a few steps to reach a telephone so that I could call a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer. My side felt as though something would pull loose internally if I moved. My only recourse was to stand there and turn fervently to the spiritual truths I had learned from studying Christian Science. I began declaring silently some of these truths, one of which was this statement from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy:3 ``Banish the belief that you can possibly entertain a single intruding pain which cannot be ruled out by the might of Mind, and in this way you can prevent the development of pain in the body.'' 4

I wholeheartedly affirmed my unity with Mind, God. I endeavored to realize that in reality nothing could separate me from Him. I declared that in His kingdom, where man always lives, there could be no disabling condition of any kind, no suffering. The fear and pain diminished to the point where I could gingerly make my way back to my office next door. Settled in my chair, I continued reaching out to God, divine Truth, for a recognition of my undisturbed likeness to Him. In less than two hours, every trace of the problem had disappeared, and there has been no difficulty, not even a twinge of pain, since that day.

Christian Science, the Science of Christ, reveals through healing that man is actually spiritual, not material. He is not at the mercy of fear or suffering. He can never, for even one moment, be separated from his Father-Mother God's tender care.

Even when one's need for freedom from a physical trouble is urgent, enlightened reliance on the scientific knowledge Christ Jesus taught and practiced can bring swift restoration to well-being. Mrs. Eddy states, ``Instruct the sick that they are not helpless victims, for if they will only accept Truth, they can resist disease and ward it off, as positively as they can the temptation to sin.'' She continues further along: ``The fact that Truth overcomes both disease and sin reassures depressed hope. It imparts a healthy stimulus to the body, and regulates the system. It increases or diminishes the action, as the case may re- quire, better than any drug, alterative, or tonic.'' 5

So we're not at all helpless. We have continuous access to God's healing power.

1 Exodus 15:26. 2 John 14:12. 3 The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 4 Science and Health, p. 391. 5 Ibid., p. 420. DAILY BIBLE VERSE O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. Psalms 30:2