A few years ago a friend wondered why I always seemed so calm and together. In fact, she asked if I was taking a drug to help me cope with the challenges of work and motherhood. At the time it struck me as an odd question, and I explained that prayer was my only aid, since it helped order my days and calm my thinking.

As more and more people turn to mood-altering drugs to cope with their daily demands, I've realized my friend's question wasn't so odd after all. Most people talk about stress as a normal part of everyday life and work. In fact a recent study I came across stated that "stress helps account for two thirds of family doctor visits" (http://www.cdc.gov/noish/topics/stress/).

As I gave my friend's question more thought, I looked for answers in the two books that have informed my thought on health and spirituality: the Bible and Science and Health, by Mary Baker Eddy. I realized that Science and Health has a solid response to this question: "To be every whit whole, man must be better spiritually as well as physically" (pp. 369-370). It also points out that while the Bible is full of examples of Jesus' extraordinary healing works, there's no evidence in the Bible that he used drugs to heal: "Jesus never taught that drugs, food, air, and exercise could make a man healthy, or that they could destroy human life; nor did he illustrate these errors by his practice" (p. 232). Jesus' view of health as a permanent fact of being transformed the lives of those he healed.

A few years ago, I had to pray about these very ideas in my own home. One day, my husband told me he'd been bothered by a twitch in his eyelid for weeks, which had now become almost constant. He said he couldn't focus at work or sleep at night, and wondered if he should see an eye doctor to determine if it could be treated.

He'd recently made a job change from a lucrative yet frustrating career, to an industry that he'd always wanted to explore. He'd taken the job with complete peace and confidence. This peace, however, didn't last very long. Within a day of my husband's being hired, his boss was demoted. As a result, my husband's responsibilities were cut short. Further, his new boss didn't appreciate my husband's background or abilities.

Gradually his usual quiet confidence in his God-given abilities turned to doubt, fear, and frustration. His stress level grew as he began to realize as well the limited opportunities for advancement. This was foreign to him, since he'd been accustomed to quick promotions and also praise for his work in his previous positions.

My husband had struggled with this work situation for months, and he explained to me that the unrelenting twitch in his eyelid was the last straw. As we talked this over, we both recognized that this reaction in his eye wasn't unrelated to the extreme stress he was feeling at work. Rather than fixating on the eye difficulty, we saw the mental component of this reaction, and it felt natural to both of us to turn to prayer for a solution.

Though my husband had never asked for prayer in Christian Science before, he'd seen our family experience many healings, and he became convinced that gaining a better understanding of God's care would bring peace to the entire situation.

We began by weeding out of our thinking anything that would prevent us from seeing the situation from a prayerful perspective—thoughts like doubt and discouragement. Each night we'd study together passages from the Bible and Science and Health. He would pore over them again in the morning before he left for work. While new to this study, he felt that turning to God helped him feel calmer and more confident each day.

Our study began with Genesis 1, which asserts that God gave us each dominion. This quality of dominion helped us realize that he couldn't be subject to the ups and downs of a changing work environment—and he couldn't be under the control of a twitching eye, either! We made it our daily goal to accept only God's loving hand in all things.

Then, my husband came across these bold words: "Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man" (Science and Health, p. 393). He explained that as he prayed with these ideas, a powerful shift occurred in his thinking, in that he was really catching on to the idea that he didn't have to be at the mercy of either a twitching eye or a poor work environment.

Within two days after this realization, the twitching started to abate. My husband said he felt buoyed by these new ideas and thought of them throughout the day.

Then he had a meeting at work that didn't go very well. Again he felt undervalued and concerned that there would be no opportunities for growth within the company. As he left his office, the twitch returned. But this time, it was almost laughable! In fact, he called home to tell me what had occurred, and the mental nature of this symptom became so clear to both of us. That day it became easy for us to see that the twitch couldn't continue without our consent—it simply had no foundation to support it.

Within a week, the twitch disappeared entirely and has never returned.

The next week, he was talking to a friend who had previously told him about an opportunity at his company. As a result, my husband interviewed for a job at the firm and was offered a partnership. He accepted the position and has been there ever since. He enjoys his co-workers, as well as interesting and challenging assignments that give him professional and personal satisfaction. Our entire family was blessed by this experience.

The Apostle Paul urged us to accept that right now everything needed is in place (see II Cor. 6:2). This spiritual awareness doesn't involve pretending there's harmony where none appears to be, or simply waiting for a positive change. God, who is Love itself, governs every detail of our lives, including the ability to live whole, satisfied, capable, and stress free. CSS