My favorite pastime is long-distance running. One day last year while training for a fifty-kilometer race, I became aware of pain in my heels. I put the pain down to my running shoes being not so new anymore and wore a different pair on my next run. But after a few days the pain came back. It wasn’t the shoes. 

Still thinking the cause of my discomfort was physical, over the next few weeks I tried different running shoes, different socks, a new route, running more on trails rather than pavement, and finally, experimenting with gel insoles. Despite all this, the pain got worse rather than better. My 50K race was coming up soon, and by this time it was hard even to walk very far. I should have been treating myself through prayer in Christian Science, but I hadn’t been. It’s never too late, though, and it was high time I started.

I had a few days coming up in my diary that were almost clear of commitments, and I decided to dedicate this time to prayer. I am so thankful for the Bible Lessons published in the Christian Science Quarterly. Each week there is a new Lesson made up of citations from the Bible and from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. I read the full Lesson for that week, and, as often happens, it seemed to fit my current situation perfectly. There was one section that seemed almost entirely devoted to spiritual strength and power—not to human feet or gel insoles! 

One of my favorite passages was from Science and Health: “Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts” (p. 261). To me that meant I needed to stop seeing myself as a helpless mortal with sore, overused feet, and instead claim my real, spiritual selfhood as a perfect and unlimited idea of God. 

The Bible citations for that week included these helpful lines: “I will go in the strength of the Lord God” (Psalms 71:16) and “[God] giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.… they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:29, 31). 

These passages encouraged me to trust that my strength for the race, and for all of my activities, comes from God. I am not responsible for somehow making myself strong enough through physical training or a nutritional regime. It is advisable, of course, to properly prepare for such long-distance events, but not to make an idol of a training plan, diet, or physical measurements. My attention needed to be on reflecting God, not ticking off miles on a training spreadsheet.

I had recently come across a statement made by Aristotle: “Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.” It struck me that the pain in my feet was actually a manifestation of my fear of being unable to finish my upcoming race. I hadn’t run as far before over the type of terrain I would encounter on the race course, and I had been worried I wouldn’t be able to complete the race. Now I was concerned that I wouldn’t even make the start line! 

But in Christian Science, we see how fear can be conquered. Fear is often found to be at the root of a physical problem. I find seeing the word fear as an acronym for “false evidence appearing real” to be a helpful reminder that fear isn’t based on fact. Many years ago, as a pupil in the Christian Science Sunday School, I learned that there is only one God, who created all that is real, and He created everything good. Therefore, anything that appears to be not good—pain, for example—can’t have been created by God, and so can’t be real. It doesn’t make sense to be afraid of something that isn’t real, no matter how persistent or scary it might seem. It isn’t created by God, isn’t real, and so we needn’t be afraid of it. The pain I was feeling in my feet was simply false evidence, not a God-created reality. I just needed to let go of my fear.

After I finished studying the Lesson, the thought came to me to write two lists. The first was of all the things I was afraid of regarding the race or my sore feet. Next to each item, I then wrote why the fear was unfounded. For example, I wrote that I was afraid of getting halfway through the race and having to stop because I was too tired or too sore. Next to that I wrote that I am not, in reality, a limited human, but the eternal reflection of my creator, God, who has given me unlimited spiritual strength. My second list was of all the things I love about running, such as being able to freely run in the beautiful countryside and enjoy the outdoors.

I was so absorbed in these prayer-filled activities that I forgot about the pain. My focus had shifted from physical training to glorifying God. I didn’t run at all that week, which was very unusual for me; instead, I used my time to read the Bible Lesson multiple times each day, as well as many articles in current and past issues of the Christian Science magazines. 

On race day, I was so grateful to stand pain-free, waiting for the starting whistle. I was able to complete the race with no problems, running for more than six hours without even thinking about my feet. I have continued to run pain-free ever since. I am so happy to share this experience in the hope that it will encourage someone else to dedicate time to prayer and learning more about God and man in Christian Science. It is always time well spent—and it brings healing.

Claire McArthur
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland