It is with a grateful heart that I share this testimony. Mary Baker Eddy provides guidance for us in times of need with the following passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “There is no metastasis, no stoppage of harmonious action, no paralysis. Truth not error, Love not hate, Spirit not matter, governs man. If students do not readily heal themselves, they should early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid them. If they are unwilling to do this for themselves, they need only to know that error cannot produce this unnatural reluctance” (p. 420).

For several years, my heart would sometimes pound or palpitate unexpectedly. Since I had learned to stop the palpitations using a breathing technique until my heartbeat returned to normal, I was more annoyed by the issue than fearful, so I tended to dismiss it. Thinking back on that period, I can see that my attitude was that of “unnatural reluctance.” I had been ignoring the problem and even accepting it as somewhat normal instead of treating—and destroying—the claim of a problem as baseless, as we can when putting into practice the teachings of Christian Science.

Then, one evening over four years ago, my heart began to race uncontrollably, and I had difficulty breathing. I became very fearful; my usual technique for stopping the palpitations did not work.