On a summer night at camp, who doesn’t love a good campfire? The crackling wood smells good, and the light is beautiful. But what I didn’t expect on the night of our campfire was that I couldn’t tolerate the smoke. As the fire grew to fill the firepit, and the smoke got denser, I realized I was having trouble breathing. 

My friends noticed that I was struggling and advised me to speak with a Christian Science practitioner who was there at camp with us, since this was a camp for Christian Scientists. I talked with the practitioner, and he reminded me that God is the supreme power, which means God is not only all-power but the only power.

Although this was helpful, by the time I got back to my cabin, I felt worse. It was late, and I couldn’t sleep because I was worried that my labored breathing would affect my sleep. 

What I didn’t expect on the night of our campfire was that I couldn’t tolerate the smoke.

I didn’t know what to do. Then a line from a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal came to mind:

This calmed me down enough to call my mom to support me in prayer, and she shared some inspiring ideas for me to think about. She told me that a good starting point would be to deal with the fear I was feeling, and that one way to do this is to know that nothing can deprive me of God’s love. His love is all around me, no matter where I am or what I’m facing, and I can’t be separated from it.

After I shared how I was feeling with a friend in my cabin, he offered to accompany me to visit the practitioner again. When we got there, the practitioner suggested that we pray quietly together. I prayed by affirming what I know to be true about my relation to God. I know that I was created by God, who is Love and Life. As a spiritual expression of God, I express only God’s qualities—only good.

The practitioner recommended that I read this passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “The true understanding of God is spiritual. It robs the grave of victory. It destroys the false evidence that misleads thought and points to other gods, or other so-called powers, such as matter, disease, sin, and death, superior or contrary to the one Spirit” (p. 275). This raised a question for me. 

I realized that disease or inharmony can’t really exist at all because it doesn’t come from God. I went to bed and slept soundly without worrying about my breathing.

I asked him, “Does God know that we’re sick, and if I am God’s expression, why am I sick?” 

In response, he read me a related verse from the Bible: “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (I John 3:1, New Revised Standard Version). 

I asked what the word world meant in the context of this statement, and he said it means that there’s no mind outside of God to know us—in other words, no beliefs about disease or inharmony can attach themselves to us. 

This answered my question, and I realized that disease or inharmony can’t really exist at all because it doesn’t come from God. I was inspired and filled with joy by these ideas. I went to bed and slept soundly without worrying about my breathing.

The next day, I felt great! I had no more fear about being near a campfire, and my healing was complete. 

I’m so grateful to God for what I learned from this experience. I’m also grateful for Christian Science, which has enabled me to find healing through prayer.