No more symptoms of arthritis

I had been having symptoms of arthritis in my legs, arms, feet, and hands for several years. Finally one day the pain in my right arm was so severe that I couldn’t use the arm and had to have help getting dressed. Also, walking was painful; my days were never without pain. I had been praying about this, but now I really began to knuckle down in order to get to the source of the difficulty. I knew from my study of the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the Christian Science textbook, by Mary Baker Eddy, that I had to spiritualize thought so that the body would correspond to my Godlike thinking.

A central point in Christian Science is that physical ailments always have a mental basis; therefore, they respond to a change in thought. I had to shift my basis of thought from an identity in matter to a spiritual identity. So I arose every morning at 4:00 a.m., went to my office, and spent about six hours each day praying to better understand God and my relationship to Him. I also asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. (A practitioner is someone who devotes his or her full time to helping others through prayer.) 

My prayer was mostly that of identifying with God. By that I mean that since I am made in the image and likeness of God (see Genesis 1:26, 27 ) and since God is Spirit, I have the same substance as God; that I am spiritual, made up of spiritual qualities—the qualities that are God’s. I had learned in Christian Science what the qualities of God are, which are written or implied in the Bible. Besides Spirit, God is divine Mind—the only intelligence there is. Mind is ever active, limitless. Mind as God is all-power and all-knowing. Mind is the source and condition of all existence, the source of all movement, the only action, perpetual motion. I understood that I reflect the unrestricted movement of Mind.

When I identified with God as Truth, I knew I had perfect health. Truth gives harmony, brings light, which chases away the darkness of mortal thought. The nature of Truth is freedom. 

And divine Love. “What a word! I am in awe before it,” wrote Mrs. Eddy. “Over what worlds on worlds it hath range and is sovereign! the underived, the incomparable, the infinite All of good, the alone God, is Love” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 249 ). It is divine Love that confers the healing power. Love casts out fear, and fear is the basis of all sickness. As the image of divine Love, I recognized that every quality and activity of Love were part of my own being.

There were many other qualities of God I prayed with and strove to express more in my daily life. I also endeavored to keep my mental home filled with gratitude and love. Slowly, but surely, my thought began lifting above the mortal view of myself with its pain and discomfort, and it no longer filled my thought.

Within a month I could use one arm more freely and the other arm, which also had started feeling very painful, was free from pain more often. As I continued to pray, I steadily progressed. After about a year and a half I was free of pain and able to use both arms. I go to the racket club now and move about freely.

Overcoming even a little of mortality through spiritual understanding is my sense of experiencing salvation in a small way. My gratitude to God is unbounded. My days are filled with an acknowledgment of God’s allness, His goodness, His love and care for each of us.

Adrienne McWhorter
Yuba City, California, US