Article May 9, 2005 Issue

'I BEGAN TO THINK HEALING WAS POSSIBLE FOR ME'

By Luiz Iamnhuqui

I was 12 and in the hospital again after yet another attack of bronchitis, when a neighbor friend told my mother about Christian Science. Her son, Ivan, had been healed of the same illness through prayer alone. She asked me if I wanted to go to the Christian Science Sunday School at a church nearby because she thought it would help me.

My mom was very sad for me. Every year I had gone to the hospital to treat the bronchitis. I think I'd been to every hospital in the city of São Caetano, where we lived, and yet the attacks continued. My mom was willing to try anything that might help me, so I began attending the Sunday School. I didn't understand very much of what the teachers were saying. When my teacher told me I was made in the image and likeness of God, I was very surprised—I had never heard such a thing before. And I had never heard anyone talk about spiritual healing, or that it was possible today. But I kept going back each Sunday throughout my teenage years.

What attracted me to that Sunday School were the love and affection people showed me there. Also, I wanted healing. Ivan went, too, and we would often play in the street together. I could see that he was well and healthy, while I couldn't have ice cream and do what the other kids did. I began to believe that healing was possible for me, but I continued taking medication whenever I had a bronchial attack because I thought prayer was something extra you did, and that both medicine and prayer were necessary for healing. Also, I was very afraid of what might happen to me if I didn't take the medication.

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