Epilepsy healed

Before I came to know Christian Science, I suffered from epilepsy for more than seven years. I sought treatment from doctors, but they told me that it was a chronic ailment and that they had no cure beyond medicine to manage the seizures. Since I could have a seizure at any time, my family kept me at home so they could keep an eye on me. I was told that because of my condition I could never drive, ride a bicycle, climb trees, or go near fire. My life was that of a slave.

One day about five years ago, I was in an Internet café searching for a religion that offered some hope of restoring my health. I found claims that Christian Science heals. I searched more deeply and found a lot of talk about the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy—a book that heals! I wrote to the Clerk of The Mother Church and was sent a copy of the book. I started reading it, and although it was hard for me to understand it, I went on reading.

One passage that really stood out to me was this one: “Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legitimate state of man. God made man free. Paul said, ‘I was free born.’ All men should be free. ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’ ” (p. 227). I started to see that I couldn’t be kept in slavery by epilepsy, and that this “oppression” didn’t come from God. This was a new birth in my life.

Over the next several years, I continued to receive guidance from Science and Health, together with the Bible, and tried to read them with understanding. I started to see that disease was a form of mortal mind, or animal magnetism (see Science and Health, p. 178)—which was really nothing but a belief that life could exist in matter instead of in God, Spirit. In other words, epilepsy is nothing but the image of a lie.

As I felt the truth of these concepts, I was healed. I had no more seizures, and in early 2011, I rode a bicycle for the first time since I had been diagnosed with epilepsy. I returned to the clinic soon after, and the doctors confirmed my healing. Christian Science showed me the wonderful power of spiritual healing, and it changed my life.

The first line of the Preface of Science and Health says, “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (p. vii). Ever since I received the book, I started looking for these blessings, and today I feel like the most blessed person in the world. No more epilepsy; no more being constantly guarded by my relatives; no more worries about going near fire or about not being able to drive or cook. I know that the Christ, that perfect message from God, makes “all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

Christian Science has shown a way forward for me and my family; a way in which I do not need to wrestle with matter. Instead, I have come to understand that matter, or a materially based way of thinking, destroys itself. I have found health and harmony in my life, and thanks to Christian Science I know how to overcome various beliefs of error. Jesus promised, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). I am so grateful to be free now!

Freddy J. Kaganda
Nyarugusu Camp, Kasulu, Tanzania