One night I developed symptoms of food poisoning. This came on suddenly and aggressively. I was tempted to think back to what I had eaten that might have caused this. But I knew that that line of thinking would just reinforce the misconception that sickness and pain are real and have power. What I needed to do was reject that notion and know that God, my creator—who is all-powerful, harmonious, and only good—was governing me. 

That week the subject of the Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly was “Soul,” and what particularly stood out to me was a portion of the 23rd Psalm and its spiritual sense from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (see p. 578). I have always loved that psalm, and it was a great comfort to me that night. The symptoms worsened, however, and I got little sleep. 

The next morning I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. She read to me part of a statement from Science and Health, “. . . nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God” (p. 228), and reminded me that I am governed completely by divine Mind, God—not matter.