Testimony of Healing January 15, 1979 Issue

There was a time when I greatly feared for my life because of...

Leslie E. Vasquez

There was a time when I greatly feared for my life because of heart trouble. I believed myself a victim of this problem and suffered from this false conviction.

A Christian Science practitioner, through prayer, helped me exchange a material concept of myself for a spiritual one. This change seemed impossible because the physical disorder was so overwhelming. After many months without any change, I was asked to read an article in The Christian Science Journal on nullifying animal magnetism. I suddenly realized that the basis of the problem was not in a material organ called a human heart. The basic error was that I had allowed myself to become mesmerized by the notion that life is in matter. For healing to take place, then, I didn't need to wait around till my heart got well again. I needed instead to awaken from animal magnetism, the belief that matter holds all life.

After this realization I knew I was on the way to healing. I began to face up to fear and challenge it. I studied Mary Baker Eddy's answer to the question, "Do you believe in change of heart?" (See Miscellaneous Writings, p. 50.) What impressed me was my need to change from self-centeredness to love for God and His beloved idea, man. As I began to live this love for God and man, false character traits of self, such as extreme shyness, sensitivity, and many others began to disappear.

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