Testimony of Healing January 13, 2014 Issue

Jealousy resolved, toothache healed

Jenny Sawyer

Adapted from a testimony originally read during an online Wednesday testimony meeting of The Mother Church: ChristianScience.com/Wednesdays.

I’m very grateful for a healing I had in the fall of 2012 that showed me so clearly that good does overcome evil. Out of nowhere, a tooth started bothering me, and the pain quickly escalated from moderately annoying to almost debilitating. Eating was nearly impossible, as was sleeping.

I struggled for several days but was grateful for the prayers of a Christian Science practitioner, which did bring some relief. The problem persisted, though, and one day as I prayed, it occurred to me that what I really needed to do was get to the root of the issue. I wasn’t sure how to do this, but I decided I would simply think about who and what God is, and God would show me the rest. I’ve found this approach very effective in the past because it helps focus my thoughts on what’s true and good, instead of whatever evil seems to be looming large.

I started thinking about the seven synonyms for God that Mary Baker Eddy gives in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (see p. 465). What did it mean for God to be Principle? What about Mind? I thought about Soul, then Spirit … and when I got to God as Life, a startling thought struck me. God, Life itself, wasn’t just my Life. God was everyone’s Life. That meant each of us has the same source of existence, the same amount of good, the same amount of love. I hadn’t stopped to think about God as Life this way before, but it made sense to me. And that’s when the second startling thought struck me: Since God, the same Life of us all, was blessing each of His children equally, then I didn’t need to feel jealous.