At the supper table one evening one of our youngsters informed us that the previous night his head had hurt when he was going to bed. "I talked to God," he said, "and pretty soon the hurt went away." There was no immediate reaction from the rest of the family. Thinking perhaps that someone doubted him, he added, "It really worked, too. If you don't believe me, try it yourself!"

This young fellow had not yet entered public school, but he was already a three-year veteran of a Christian Science Sunday School. He was also learning at home of the presence and power of God and his own status as God's child. And, something very important, he was experiencing the availability of spiritual power in his everyday affairs.

James said, "Faith without works is dead." ^{James 2:26.} Jesus showed us his faith by healing the sick, sinning, and dying—in the cities, the villages, and the countryside. He showed us the power of the Word through his works and expected those who followed him to show their understanding of God by their own works of healing. "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also," ^{John 14:12.} he said. It was as if he had told them, "Try it yourself."

How does one heal? If we follow the successful example of Jesus, we first accept the fact that God is—that He is real and actual. A New Testament epistle tells us, "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." ^{Heb. 11:6.} And in Science and Health Mrs. Eddy depicts Spirit, God, as saying, "I am the substance of all, because I am that I am." ^{Science and Health, p. 253.}

Once we've seen that we can lean on God, Spirit, who is dependable and true, we'll confidently turn to Him as sheep turn to their shepherd. If we're employees, we'll credit our supply not to a salary but to God, because we feel Him to be our Shepherd. As housekeepers we'll carry out our daily agenda not by rote, but with joy, knowing we are Life's bright, complete reflections. As students we'll learn to make difficult choices correctly as we hold to our status as precise expressions of Principle, God.

Acknowledging that God exists, we can come to understand Him to be Mind, who heals all our diseases, as the Psalmist noted, ^{See Ps. 103:3 .} and Christ Jesus proved.

How does God heal? By His ever-presence, which we can feel and know through the activity of Christ, Truth, made plain in Christian Science. As Science and Health states: "Hold perpetually this thought,—that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being." ^{Science and Health, p .496.} Good is All-in-all. How, then, could disease and discord, not being good, exist where all is good? Quite simply they could not and do not. This is our basis for healing. But it requires more than repetition of truths to bring about healing. It takes trusting God with our affairs— relying on Him for our income and outgo, our moments for speaking and moments for silence, our times of action and times of waiting. It takes a "What do I do now, God?" attitude and a willingness to listen and follow in order that the truths may bring healing results.

As offspring of divine Mind we are not lesser minds but individual ideas expressing the one Mind. One wonders how long human antagonists would remain riled if one or both realized this truth and let it control motives and actions. Giving our consent and conforming our lives to God's will, moment by moment, brings health and harmony to our experience.

Timidity may keep some of us from trusting our ability to heal. We may have said in misguided modesty, "Why, I cannot heal!" Actually that's a true statement—the human "I" cannot heal. Jesus said he of himself could not; God is the healer.

So why are we timid about our healing capacity? Isn't it in part because we feel we're personally responsible, and we think we can't handle the job? But how can personal responsibility weigh on us if we realize that God is the healer? Our role in healing is to affirm His complete power and man's expression of it, and to reject any material claims that would oppose Him. "The battle is not yours, but God's," ^{II Chron. 20: 15.} we find in the Bible. We must let Him have the reins and consistently acknowledge that He has them. Strengthened by our effort to live in line with the Sermon on the Mount to the best of our ability, we will see timidity flee.

We may also be intimidated by the complexity and tenacity of a material claim or by the apparent reality of it, but as we grasp in some measure the nothingness of disease and sin in the face of God's allness, these hurdles will be cleared.

Jesus did call upon his followers to heal the sick, and we do use the term "healer" when referring to persons in the practice of Christian Science. This word designates one who is praying to realize God's healing presence, and that person may be a public practitioner or any student of Christian Science.

God, being conscious only of His own infinite perfection, has no consciousness of sickness or sin. Is the principle of mathematics aware of any need to correct an erroneous sum? It could only point to correct sums. The discordant material condition that requires healing must be seen as belief, some error of thought, since God, the divine Being, is All-in-all. This truth is recognized and insisted on by the Christian Science healer until the error is destroyed and God's harmony is experienced here on earth.

When Jesus said, "Heal the sick," ^{Matt. 10:8.} he was directing that we demonstrate God's power to heal as he did. Our role includes this conviction that God, Spirit, is, and that His ever-presence— manifested in the Christ and acknowledged with spiritual understanding—does heal.

So, "try it yourself," as our little fellow put it. God is ready; He has given you the capacity to do your part.