Pain isn’t normal

I used to struggle with monthly menstrual cramps. To be honest, the pain seemed normal to me. My friends dealt with the same issue, and the mentality was that there was nothing we could do about it, except maybe take medicine to temporarily relieve the pain.

Once, when I was traveling from my home in Rio de Janeiro to see my grandparents in another state in Brazil, the pain became so severe that I began to feel like I might faint. But I had been attending the Christian Science Sunday School, where I’d learned that God is always loving me and taking care of me. In that moment, I was able to pray with this healing idea, and within an hour the pain went away. I knew, though, that I wanted a permanent healing, and so I began to think more about some of the things I had learned in Sunday School.

For a long time, I was mystified by the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible. They were thrown out of paradise, and were cursed to struggle and experience pain, because of one mistake. It didn’t make sense to me that God, being all power and all good, could create something capable of doing something so wrong—like a man and a woman who would be disobedient. And if somehow He did create something that turned out to be a mistake, why not just fix it, instead of punishing it for the rest of eternity? Since God is all power, He certainly could have done that.

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

TeenConnect: Your Healings
A new way of helping others
TeenConnect: Your Healings
The right ideas when you need them
TeenConnect: Your Healings
Lost and found
TeenConnect: Your Healings
On track with God
TeenConnect: Your Healings
Hypnotized? Not me.
TeenConnect: Your Healings
I didn’t buy that app
TeenConnect: Your Healings
A backpacking breakthrough
TeenConnect: Your Healings
‘Now I trust God more than ever’
TeenConnect: Your Healings
After the storm
TeenConnect: Your Healings
If you want to stop hating someone
TeenConnect: Your Healings
Effective prayer—wherever you are
TeenConnect: Your Healings
When things don’t go the way you planned
TeenConnect: Your Healings
The message that saved my life
TeenConnect: Your Healings
A quick healing of a football injury
TeenConnect: Your Healings
A healing of celiac disease
TeenConnect: Your Healings
A healing at the end of the school year

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