Article June 27, 2005 Issue

'ENABLE US TO KNOW'

By Mark Unger

YEARS AGO I FOUND myself with a severely painful headache that made even thinking clearly difficult. I was used to praying for myself to find relief and healing. So I started praying with the Lord's Prayer because I knew it so well. But also because I remembered what Mary Baker Eddy said about the Lord's Prayer in Science and Health, — that it "covers all human needs" (p. 16). Now to me that is a radical statement. But the reason I believed it is because not only is it the specific prayer that Jesus gave to his students (disciples) but also because Mary Baker Eddy's record of healing appeared to be the closest of anyone I had ever heard of, to the way Jesus and his students healed. So I figured she knew what she was talking about. I'd also been practicing the ideas that she writes about in Science and Health regarding Jesus' healing method and found that I, too, could in some cases heal both myself and others of physical problems.

What happened was that I had this migraine-type headache come on very fast. Now you might be wondering why I didn't just take an aspirin. Well, frankly, I just had more faith in an all-powerful God than in a pill because I had experienced healing by turning to God in prayer. Also I wanted permanent healing, a cure, rather than just a quick fix. I was learning from Science and Health that that means dealing with our thinking rather than just with something physical, since thought controls the body.

I was putting my trust in the Lord's Prayer as a way to help me feel my connection to God, to my source of harmony and health. So I said that prayer out loud to myself over and over again. Now I knew that just saying the words wouldn't do anything for me, so I thought about what I was saying as best I could. I said it out loud in an attempt to make it louder in my thought than the pain. At first I wasn't getting much out of the prayer, but as I kept saying it over and over, I would catch a little bit of inspiration here and there. I felt as though I were in a wrestling match, and I decided I wasn't giving up until the inspiration and spiritual truth in the Lord's Prayer won out over the depressing pain. I must have said it over 25 times. I also found it a huge help and very comforting to include Mary Baker Eddy's spiritual interpretation of each phrase of the prayer, which I had memorized as well.