Article February 8, 1988 Issue

The "natural effects"

Does healing have to be a struggle? Or is it an inevitable result of spiritual growth?

Grace Archer Dunbar

"What are the side effects?" Since side effects can be more or less detrimental, this question is sometimes asked with concern by those who are considering some form of medical treatment. If the same question were asked by someone investigating Christian Science healing, I would answer from my own experience: There are certainly many effects from the practice of Christian Science, and I have found them all to be good.

I remember particularly one unexpected effect from Christian Science that I experienced early in my study. About two years after my husband and I became students of this Science, I realized I had been healed of a stomach disorder that had plagued me all my life. My mother had been told by several physicians when I was very young that the only remedy they could offer me was a strict diet. And even with this, the sick spells had continued to occur periodically. I had become so accustomed to the medical diagnosis and prognosis "This is something she will just have to learn to live with" that despite the many Christian Science healings our young family witnessed, it never occurred to me to pray specifically about the difficulty or to ask for prayerful treatment from a Christian Science practitioner.

Although I did not know when the healing occurred, it was clear to me that this healing and others we had experienced during those two years were normal effects of our spiritual growth. I could see that not only had my fear of certain foods completely disappeared but the false concept I had accepted about myself as a sickly person had yielded to the growing understanding of my true identity as God's child, spiritual and perfect. I knew that I was healed. This healing took place many years ago and has been permanent.

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