Neurovegetative disorder healed

I found Christian Science at a time when I was bedridden. I had no desire to get up, walk, or talk. I constantly dealt with insomnia and lack of appetite, and I often felt depressed and cried for no reason. I could not see beauty in anything around me. The medical diagnosis was a neurovegetative disorder, a condition that I had been treating through medicine for ten years. Whenever I stopped taking my medicine, the condition got worse.

As the common saying goes, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” This proved to be true in my experience. At one point, the doctor who had been attending my case for some time passed on. Also, the medication I had been taking was taken off the market and was no longer being manufactured. Other doctors who had examined me had prescribed different medications, but only the last medication I had taken had made me feel better. I felt hopeless.

At that time, my siblings, who were already studying Christian Science, gave me copies of the Portuguese edition of The Herald of Christian Science, and I liked the ideas I read in this magazine. Then, as a last resort, I asked my siblings to put me in contact with a Christian Science practitioner—a person devoted, full time, to helping others find healing through prayer.

The practitioner accepted my case and visited me at home over several days. He read the Christian Science Bible Lesson to me and talked about the spiritual concepts we studied together. On his first two visits, I was not able to walk to the door to open it for him. On the practitioner’s third visit, I could not only open the door and welcome him in person, but I also ran to answer the phone, which rang at the same time the practitioner arrived. We both were happy with my progress.

The practitioner frequently reminded me of the ideas in this passage: “In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 74 ). I was experiencing a renewal of thought and could not go back to nurturing a wrong concept about myself as a sick and depressed being. I was attaining a new understanding of God and His creation, which includes man, the generic term for all men, women, and children. I was learning that a perfect God created everyone in His image and likeness. Contrary to the physical evidence, defective genes were no part of my true identity, which is spiritual, perfect, and imperishable. I realized that if I had always existed as a perfect idea of God, then I could only express divine perfection.

I found healing as I thought deeply about these concepts. At the end of that week, I was totally reinvigorated. I naturally regained appetite, joy, and interest in life, and I have retained all these since then. This healing happened 30 years ago, and the symptoms have not recurred.

How good it is to know that we are always connected to God. My gratitude to God, to Christian Science, and to the Christian Science practitioner is immense. Maintaining a spirit of gratitude allows me to see and expect the constant unfolding of divine good in my life.

Maria Celisa Cesar Martins
São Paulo, Brazil