This passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy was proved true to me a few years ago: “According to Christian Science, the only real senses of man are spiritual, emanating from divine Mind. Thought passes from God to man, but neither sensation nor report goes from material body to Mind. The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man” (p. 284). 

At the time, I often had violent headaches. I did not take any medication because I was accustomed to praying to deal with health problems, and in these other cases my prayers had brought relief. One of the times when I was in a lot of pain and anxiety, I went to a room in my house where I could pray, and read this from the Christian Science textbook: “Consciousness constructs a better body when faith in matter has been conquered. Correct material belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form you anew. You will never fear again except to offend God, and you will never believe that heart or any portion of the body can destroy you” (Science and Health, p. 425).

I prayed with that text, and the pain soon disappeared, but it returned a while later. This time, a verse from the Bible came to mind: “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good” (Jeremiah 10:5, New International Version). 

Immediately, I saw clearly that pain was an idol—something that was taking the place of God in my thought—and that it could not speak or act and had no power of its own. I understood that I did not have to accept or carry that wrong impression because it is a lie, nothingness. I thought that image of me carrying a scarecrow was funny, and I even smiled. I decided right then, “I will never carry you again!” The elimination of that sensation, a false belief, was instantaneous and definitive. I have never again had a headache.

It was proved to me that pain is not something normal because it does not proceed from God and that such opposites as suffering and divine Love do not coexist. Where God is there is peace, comfort, and health, and He is everywhere.

My gratitude to God, who sent His Son, Christ Jesus, and also revealed Christian Science to Mrs. Eddy, is immense. Studying this Science enables us to understand that only good is real and that we can surrender to perfection with joy.

Vasti Alves de Oliveira
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil