Skin condition gone
About four years ago, I started experiencing some skin problems similar to a serious condition I had seen on TV. A couple of people expressed concern for me and advised me to have this condition looked at by a physician.
Instead, I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. We worked every day to turn my thought toward Spirit, God, and away from my body. In essence, I was “tilling” the whole of my thought and raising the level of my thinking about God, man, and the universe, to see only God’s creation. Each day, I looked to God for guidance as to what spiritual ideas I should pray about.
Over about two years, however, the condition gradually grew worse, although I felt no pain and was still able to carry out all my normal activities. I continued to pray, following Jesus’ guidance in the Bible, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33 ). I committed myself to not giving up on finding healing through Christian Science.
Then, a few weeks later, a new, unrelated condition presented itself—now I was not able to sleep. Yet, even though I couldn’t sleep, I did not feel tired. I went to bed every night at the normal time, but when it became apparent that I could not sleep, I got up and used the time productively.
It was tempting to think that I had made no progress in my prayers. While I had no doubt that Christian Science heals, whispers that maybe I could not prove Christian Science tried to creep into my thinking. However, being a lifelong Christian Scientist and having experienced many healings myself, in addition to witnessing many healings in my family and my wife’s family, I knew that these discouraging suggestions—of both skin disease and an inability to rest properly—were false and that the considerable spiritualization of thought I’d been experiencing had to result in healing.
A passage in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy explains why symptoms sometimes appear more aggressive: “The broadest facts array the most falsities against themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion” (p. 97 ). So I understood that when error “screams,” it is merely being brought to the surface to be destroyed and to have its voice extinguished.
Six days later, I still was not able to sleep, and the symptoms of the skin condition became more serious. But on the morning of the seventh day, I ate a light breakfast, sat down in a comfortable chair to watch the morning news, and fell into a deep sleep almost immediately. I woke up five hours later and felt a warm glow throughout my entire system. All the aggressive symptoms were receding rapidly. I knew then that the mesmerism of this condition had been broken. The feeling was like night and day. I don’t recall that there was a specific thought that broke through at that point; rather, I knew that this was the culmination of the persistent prayerful work the practitioner and I had been doing.
From this point on, I rapidly recovered. The symptoms continued to disappear, and by the end of the week, my normal sleeping patterns had returned and my skin was completely normal.
While I learned many lessons from this experience, the major lesson was to be persistent. I am deeply grateful for Christian Science.
Russell Henry
Eatonton, Georgia, US
