Testimony of Healing September 26, 2016 Issue

Diagnosed dental problem healed

Stephen Rea

As I sat in the dentist’s chair for my yearly checkup, I once again heard how important it was that I make an appointment to have a root canal procedure. I had heard this urging before at the previous appointment and the supposedly dire consequences of doing nothing. But I had been doing something; I had been praying. I had been affirming that my true substance was spiritual and that God was the source of my entire identity and being.

I knew that a decayed tooth was not a spiritual reality but an illusion, a false image of mortal mind. A material operation would not dispel this illusion, and it was important to me not to simply go along with the seeming reality of matter’s illusive nature. Now was the time to defeat this lie and to know that God was working out His purpose in me. I left the dentist’s office, knowing I could lean on God, but I also felt I was at odds with the dentist who was urging a medical procedure.

Moving ahead a year, just before Christmas, I suddenly began to experience pain in the area of my mouth where the dentist had warned me about. Over the next few hours the pain increased, and the side of my face became swollen. I prayed the Lord’s Prayer right away and declared: “… as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 17).