Testimony of Healing December 3, 2018 Issue

Free from migraines and caffeine addiction

Steve Warren

Suffering from a debilitating chronic ailment can be extremely discouraging. But as Mary Baker Eddy wrote in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (p. vii). And in the textbook she relates the story of a Mr. Clark, who suffered chronically from a hip wound caused by falling on a wooden spike when he was a child (see pp. 192–194). The wound never completely healed, and eventually worsened to a point where it was deemed fatal by medical authority. Called to the case, Mrs. Eddy, through prayer alone, restored Mr. Clark to health soon after entering the home where he lay dying. At the conclusion of this account, she explains the power at work in this prayer-effected healing: “It has been demonstrated to me that Life is God and that the might of omnipotent Spirit shares not its strength with matter or with human will.”

What stands out to me in this quote is her absolute conviction that Spirit is the only power at work in healing. Material means and human will did not enhance Spirit’s strength and restorative power in Mr. Clark’s case. Omnipotent divine Spirit is sufficient by itself and needs no assistance, since Spirit is the “sustaining infinite” that blesses those who lean on it.

For nearly twenty years I suffered from migraine headaches. They became so predictable in two-week cycles that I blocked out the days on my calendar when these headaches were expected and would schedule nothing on those days. As a Christian Scientist, I called on Christian Science practitioners over the years for prayerful help, but while I often received relief from the pain, the two-week cycle persisted. My wife would read to me from Science and Health while I lay in bed unable to think or pray for myself. The readings would calm my thought, and I would drift off to sleep peacefully, but two weeks later the headaches would return.

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