Pain banished by prayer

Two summers ago, I went for my usual evening jog around our neighborhood. It was an enjoyable way to unwind after a long day at the office. The terrain there is hilly, so once around the block was enough for me. When I got back home, I bent down to untie my shoelaces, but then I could hardly stand upright because of a pain in my lower back.

I couldn’t imagine what brought this on. I was a seasoned jogger so my body was used to this level of activity. I even ran the occasional 5K race. “I probably just pulled a muscle,” I thought to myself.

The next day the pain intensified. It seemed more severe than a pulled muscle, which I’d experienced before. I cringed with every step I took. My husband thought I should see a doctor. As I thought about that, I realized that my problem mirrored a back condition that my dad suffered from. His doctor, mentioning that it could be hereditary, told him that he’d need surgery in order to heal properly.

I chose not to seek a medical remedy. I’d had many solid healing experiences through reliance on God alone, and I was confident that this time would be no exception. As Mary Baker Eddy, the author of Science and Health, wrote, “… I have found divine Truth more potent than all lower remedies.” I never doubted God’s healing power.

At the same time, I wanted to address prayerfully the possibility that the condition was hereditary. This statement in Science and Health helped me: “In the infinitude of Mind, matter must be unknown. Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not products of the infinite, perfect, and eternal All. From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come.”

I knew that a bad back—an element of discord and decay—couldn’t be created by a perfect God. I wasn’t a mortal trapped in a web of material inheritances, some good, others flawed. As God’s spiritual idea, I had a right to express the perfection of God, who made me. This was the only heredity I needed to be concerned about.

I focused on God’s love and goodness. While I may have been limited in my ability to move, I knew God’s power was limitless. Science and Health states, “Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action.” I knew that this was true for me right then, and that I could trust it. Every step I took was part of that effort to prove the reality of God’s law in my life.

I wasn’t just gritting my teeth and bearing it, though. I was on a spiritual quest and I was learning a lot about God and my unbreakable relation to Him. He created each of us as perfect spiritual ideas, complete, un-aging, undamaged, and totally good. As part of my desire to understand this better, I read all of the healings I came across in the Bible. They inspired me and gave me hope that complete healing was possible for me. In fact, they made it clear that healing was my divine right.

I shifted my thinking away from the material vantage point that focuses on the body and tries to figure out what is wrong with it. Instead, I turned more and more to the spiritual identity that I knew was intact and perfect. As I made a conscientious effort to understand God better, and to see myself in spiritual terms, I made progress. I felt closer and closer to Her.

Gradually, the pain receded. It was still there, but not as constant as it had been earlier. I was thankful for this outward sign of progress. It mirrored the mental shift I was making from thinking of myself as a material being with various challenges and possibilities to recognizing that I, like everyone else, am the much-loved child of God.

I continued to read the Bible and Science and Health in the morning and in the evening before bed. I highlighted all the sections that were of special importance to me. I also read other books by Mary Baker Eddy. Through these writings, I was able to understand the Bible’s teaching in a way I never had before. Each moment of understanding built on everything that had gone before, and I felt increasing conviction that healing was taking place.

During this period, it wasn’t always easy to remain seated for long periods as my back would begin to hurt. And as I was praying, I was very much aware of the need for healing because I was scheduled for a long overseas flight a few months after the initial incident. You can imagine how happy I was when, a few days prior to my trip, I was completely healed. The 11 hours I spent in the plane were painless. And a year and a half later, I remain perfectly fit and healthy—just as God made me.

Harmony overpowers discord:

Science and Health
180:31-1
280:1-6
283:4-6

King James Bible
Rom. 8:22-28