During a weekend when my wife was away, I suffered from what...

RUPERTUS VAN LEEUWEN

During a weekend when my wife was away, I suffered from what appeared to be kidney stones. It was my duty to serve that Sunday as head usher in our branch church, and I did not want to be absent. So I called a Christian Science practitioner for help. The practitioner recommended I make a study of the word "consciousness," which I did that entire Saturday, using the Concordances to the Bible and to Mrs. Eddy's writings.

In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy asserts (p. 67): "Spiritual, not corporeal, consciousness is needed. Man delivered from sin, disease, and death presents the true likeness or spiritual ideal." This passage convinced me that what I had to claim in consciousness was not what I thought I felt, but that which in reality I am—God's flawless offspring. Also, a sentence on page 273, "There is no material truth," made me see that though the physical symptoms seemed very real, they were mortal belief, a misconception. Continuing my study, I became increasingly convinced that it is impossible for there to be laws contrary to God, for His law is supreme. Christ Jesus' healing of the sick man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2-9) taught me that as we let go of material limitations and consciously accept the all-embracing divine power, inharmony is dispelled. Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 276), "If God is admitted to be the only Mind and Life, there ceases to be any opportunity for sin and death."

That afternoon I called the practitioner to tell her that I was healed. She said, "I felt it. I knew it." After a good night's sleep I was at my ushering post the next morning, as fit as ever. Our First Reader was to be away the next Wednesday evening, and I was asked by the executive board to substitute. In researching the word "consciousness," I had found so many inspiring statements that I was able to use them in the readings from the Bible and Science and Health I put together for the Wednesday testimony meeting. Thus a heightened awareness of the divine All not only contributed to my healing but gave me a theme for the readings I was able to share with others.

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