One night, I began to experience an odd and uncomfortable feeling in my stomach, which at first just seemed ridiculous to me. As the night went on, though, the ache persisted and grew worse. I continued my nighttime routine and made my way to bed, and as I lay there, the pain intensified, and I felt it would overwhelm me. 

As a Christian Scientist, I knew this pain could not be the reality it seemed to be. I saw it as an utter farce. This meant to me that as God’s child, made in His perfect image and likeness, I could experience no such dis-ease; therefore, I could overcome its seeming reality with statements of spiritual truth. My mental arguments were not bringing relief, however, and I felt that my efforts might be too meager.

I got out of bed and went into the bathroom. As I continued to pray, I thought of the Lord’s Prayer given to mankind by our Master, Christ Jesus, and “the scientific statement of being,” given in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, written by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy (p. 468).