Testimony of Healing February 7, 2005 Issue

CHEST PAINS HEALED QUICKLY

RONALD BUTLER

A few years ago while I was attending a Saturday afternoon workshop, I began to have sharp chest pains. Because I had always turned to prayer for healing, I immediately began to pray about this situation. For the next half hour, until the conclusion of the meeting, I made every effort to keep my thoughts centered on God, and not on the discomfort. After the meetings, I continued to pray, though I hadn't made much progress in finding relief.

My wife drove me the short distance to our vacation home, where we were spending the weekend. For the next several hours, I prayed wholeheartedly for lessening of the pain. My starting point had been the fact that God alone governed me, and that in my spiritual identity—my only true identity—I was completely free of this condition.

Although I had never experienced this trouble before, I didn't focus on what might have caused it or why it was happening now. I knew that what I needed was to see the falsity of the pain that seemed so aggressive and was consuming my thoughts. I sought inspiration in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Many passages brought me comfort. I also recall striving to feel the truth of lines from a loved hymn: "In atmosphere of love divine, /We live, and move, and breathe" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 144). I knew that the body responds to the thoughts that are applied to it, and I persisted in expecting healing.