The day before we were to leave for a beach vacation in California, a painful rash appeared on both of my thighs. At first I was alarmed. Then I took a quiet moment to declare what my true identity is—created and governed by God, Spirit, and always spiritual and harmonious, not made of matter, fallible or otherwise. Therefore, the material evidence of illness or discord of any sort is not real because it is not created by God.  

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: “The belief that life and sensation are in the body should be overcome by the understanding of what constitutes man as the image of God. Then Spirit will have overcome the flesh” (p. 289). I also prayed with and put into practice an instruction from Science and Health that I often cling to when bodily discomfort intrudes: “Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.” It’s followed by this guidance: “Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man” (p. 393).

Taking time to declare what was true about my being spiritual and not confined within a limited, material body melted away the fear. However, the rash was still visible the next day.