Article January 26, 2004 Issue

THE VIEW FROM BESIDE HER

Klaus-Hendrik Herr

Very early in our teens when we began dating, Annette told me about her fears of having a weak heart. I remember going together to our favorite place in a forest. We would talk earnestly about the possibility of her finding relief, and ultimately healing, through prayer. Right there in the forest we began thinking more spiritually about ourselves. It was the prayer of seeking truth together.

Years later there were times where we stood side by side and, in prayer, challenged this concern about a heart condition as a false imposition on her health and freedom. And a full healing came for both of us that day about four years ago, as she describes it, when Annette caught a glimpse of me as embodying only the elements of God's own nature—that He created us to be whole, infinite beings, and therefore, well and active.

Whether we face a personal health challenge or that of a loved one, I know of only one way to find a permanent solution, and the process is always the same. It's the process of gathering. In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: "To be immortal, we must forsake the mortal sense of things, turn from the lie of false belief to Truth, and gather the facts of being from the divine Mind. The body improves under the same regimen which spiritualizes the thought; and if health is not made manifest under this regimen, this proves that fear is governing the body" (p. 370).