No more stomachaches

For five years I suffered from chronic and severely painful stomachaches. During this time I saw different physicians, who attributed the pain to an infection. They asked me to take prescribed antibiotics and drink only filtered water. These drugs provided temporary relief, but after a week or two, the pain would recur. No drug could stop the condition for good.

Stomachaches are often associated with tension, anxiety, and stress. In fact, I worried about many things, especially about my health, and feared losing my life to a disease.

But in 2009 I had a turning point. When I was taking a specialized course in Portugal, a work colleague invited me to attend a service in a local Christian Science church. Everyone in that church was very friendly, and one of the members offered me a couple of issues of the Portuguese edition of The Herald of Christian Science, O Arauto da Ciência Cristã. I liked the ideas from the magazines so much, and wanted to learn more about healing in Christian Science. So, after returning to Angola in December 2009, I bought a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and started reading it.

Right at the beginning of Science and Health, on the epigraph page, a few quotes by different authors are referenced, and this Bible verse caught my attention: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32 ). So, I decided to continue exploring the book to find out the truth that would make me free from the painful stomach condition. A new world opened up for me!

In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes: “Christian Science reveals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death, but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs, and so forth, have—as matter—no intelligence, life, nor sensation” (p. 127 ).

I began to understand that God is supreme good, and that He hasn’t created evil of any kind. And, if only good exists, evil cannot be manifested in the form of sin, disease, and death. Therefore, we can experience only permanent harmony, joy, and health. As I realized that I could rest totally in these spiritual truths, my fear of diseases started to yield—so much so that it was a natural step for me to stop taking drugs.

As I continued reading Science and Health, I began to turn my thought from what is physical, temporary, and unreal, and started to focus on what is spiritual, eternal, and real. My thought started to uplift as the weight of the belief of life in matter disappeared. How much peace I felt by understanding that my true being, created by God in His likeness, is not material and flawed, but is spiritual and perfect! Therefore, no supposititious physical condition could make me sick or take my life away.

The stomachaches became milder and happened less frequently. In a few weeks they completely vanished and have not recurred. I have been free from the condition for four years.

Through the study of Christian Science, I have learned that I don’t need to fear anything because I can trust God completely to show me the solutions to any problem, including those related to health. Nothing can take our peace away when we understand that we can turn to God for all our needs.

Ginga Canzala
Uige, Angola