Testimony of Healing October 28, 2013 Issue

No more debilitating headaches

Jeannine Bartlett Winter

When I was 16 years old, I attended a summer camp in Colorado for young Christian Scientists. I had always loved to hike, and our family had hiked a lot throughout my childhood, so during camp I signed up to climb Mount Columbia, a 14,000-plus-foot peak and the most challenging hike that was offered.

There may have been a little fear in my thought, though, because I had suffered from extreme headaches throughout my childhood—not just on skiing trips, when I felt that altitude sickness played a role, but also periodically at home and at my grandparents’ house, both of which were just above sea level. These headaches were debilitating and wouldn’t go away until I slept, and even then they sometimes lingered for days. My father had suffered from the same headaches all his life, too.

Well, when we reached the summit on the trip, I became very ill with a similar headache. I didn’t sign the book at the top. I just wanted to get down, and I really didn’t know how I was going to make it. On the way up, some of my fellow climbers in the group had experienced difficulties, and we had all prayed to know that God was with us, protecting and caring for us. In spite of these reassuring prayers, I remember the fear I had looking out across the majestic, rugged Rockies. The mountains were barren for as far as I could see. I just wanted to be in bed with the lights turned off, but I had a five-hour hike down to get back to the camp. I thought there was no way I was going to make it.

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