For many years, well over a decade, I had nightmares in which someone or a group of people was chasing me and usually trying to kill me. I had these vivid dreams at least several times a week. They were exhausting, but not particularly disturbing to me most of the time.

But one day I realized that these dreams were an imposition on my thinking. I recognized that many of these images were widely accepted in society, and that some people saw fear, brutality, and hatred as expected aspects of life. I started to realize that I did not need to accept this lie about God's children and that I should claim my freedom from these dreams. About this same time, I had another nightmare, and this one was especially troubling. Then I decided that these dreams simply had to go.

In retrospect, I marvel that I didn't take a stand for Truth sooner. I now see that I had been fooled into believing that these dreams were somehow part of my thinking. I was believing the lie that says man is prone to violent thoughts and that one can be victimized or terrorized. I was fooled for quite a long time. But now I began in earnest to separate these erroneous images from my identity as the image of God, who is all good and harmonious. Science and Health states, "The harmony and immortality of man are intact" (p. 521). So man's consciousness, which is derived solely from God, divine Mind, infinite Love, cannot be invaded by evil. I recognized this to be true for all mankind. I also recognized that there is no subconsciousness—no consciousness separate from divine Mind—that Mind, God, is ever conscious and always in control, and is always productive and loving.

I was helped by the many promises of peace in the Bible and by statements from Mary Baker Eddy's writings. I was especially helped by these two passages: "When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.... For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken" (Prov. 3:24, 26); and, "...if you fall asleep, actually conscious of the truth of Christian Science,—namely, that man's harmony is no more to be invaded than the rhythm of the universe,—you cannot awake in fear or suffering of any sort" (Mary Baker Eddy, Retrospection and Introspection, p. 61).

Inspired by this last statement, I made it a point always to read something from the Bible or Mrs. Eddy's writings or one of the Christian Science periodicals prior to going to sleep at night—even if it was just one verse or one sentence—some truth I could ponder while I was falling asleep. Within a week after I started praying in this way, the nightmares ceased and have not returned.

The last nightmare I had was itself rather interesting. It was another dream in which people were chasing me and trying to kill me. I started running away, but then I mustered my courage and turned and faced my pursuers. I prayed for them, and one by one they were all healed of anger, I was healed of my fear, and we all became friends! I woke rested and deeply inspired. That was over a year ago. It was a marked change: from many years of having nightmares almost every other night to more than a year now of having no nightmares at all. I still have dreams, but they are not violent, and my nights are restful.

I am thankful that I was awakened, literally and figuratively, to the need to be healed of these dreams, as well as to the knowledge that I could be healed! I am happy to have restful sleep, but even more thankful for the demonstration of the allness of Mind and a better understanding of man's divine right to peace. I feel so blessed to be a student of divine Science.

Mary Alice Rose
Brookeville, Maryland