Article July 26, 1975 Issue

Getting the Full Benefit from Christian Science Treatment

CORINNE JANE TEETER

The power that gives vitality to Christian Science treatment is God, divine Love. Love's love, understood and practiced, is enough to completely renovate one's thought of himself. However, one must be consciously willing for this redemptive action to take place, or else he will unconsciously resist it.

The goal of physical healing, which most often, perhaps, prompts people to ask for Christian Science treatment, is but a small part of the purpose of Christian Science. A student of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy soon learns that his suffering is occasioned by some phase of uncorrected material thinking—of fear, perhaps, or ignorance or sin— rather than by a chemical or physical disorder in the body. He learns, too, that part of a patient's contribution to Christian Science treatment is to heed Christ Jesus' words, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."^{Mark 11:24;} He will realize, then, that one should make great demands on treatment, and acknowledge fully its power, or he will receive only a small part of what God, our loving Father-Mother, is pouring forth.

Too often one who is suffering from physical or mental distress picks up the phone to call a Christian Science practitioner before he first has stopped to pray quietly over the seeming discord. He may have become so mesmerized by discomfort or distress that all he thinks about is release. However, if he will stop a minute to ask himself, "What do I really expect this prayerful treatment to do?" he may very well find that he wasn't going to ask for enough. Often the temptation is merely to seek release from pain, to look for a good night's sleep, restoration of physical activity, or the repair of a broken relationship.

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