When I was a young mother, for several years I suffered regularly from the flu and laryngitis. Just as soon as the local newspaper announced a flu epidemic in our community, I joined "the club."

As a student of Christian Science, I had either heard about or witnessed what seemed to me to be remarkable examples of divine protection from accidents. And so I asked myself why I wasn't making a concerted effort to apply the truths of God and man that heal and save to the prevention of disease.

I spent a number of months diligently studying the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy to gain a greater understanding of my real identity as God's perfect, spiritual child. I found this statement in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany by Mrs. Eddy: "Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration."

Just what does it mean, I asked myself, actually to be the child of God? Thinking of God as Spirit, as the Bible defines Him, helped me enormously. Since God, Spirit, is the only cause, the only creator, matter could never have been created. Spirit, our true Father-Mother, could never create something totally unlike itself. And since God, Spirit—infinite good—fills all space, when and where did matter originate? The answer had to be that matter has no real origin. Although it seems to be substance, seems to be what we're made of, ultimately it has to be seen as an illusion, a dream, a counterfeit of the real substance of Spirit, the real substance of man and the universe.

As I reasoned through the concept of myself as a pure spiritual idea of God rather than a material entity, I began to understand why disease could not really attach itself to me. As Spirit's reflection, I couldn't possibly have anything that Spirit doesn't have. If I stand before a mirror, my reflection can't have something "extra" suddenly added to it that I, as the original, don't have. It's an impossibility for Spirit, God, to have the flu or laryngitis; therefore, as Spirit's reflection, neither could I.

How could anything so unlike Spirit—called disease—even exist? Did God make it? No! Then, where did it seem to come from? The word seem really stood out to me. For perhaps the first time in dealing metaphysically with the belief of disease, I wasn't just calling it a belief; I was knowing that it only "seemed" to be present. Seasonal diseases, or any diseases, aren't God-created realities. They are names only, without any true substance to them. True substance is Spirit, which fills all space and is entirely good. I knew that I could be wide awake to this spiritual fact.

I prayed diligently and made a genuine effort to stand guard at the door of my thought, not allowing anything in that would tend to build up disease. In Miscellaneous Writings Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: "Looking over the newspapers of the day, one naturally reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with disease seem the very air. These descriptions carry fears to many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon the body." I put a stop to being so curious about the details of disease depicted in the newspaper. I went to the Bible with a sincere desire to be more obedient to God's laws as set forth in the Ten Commandments. The First Commandment states, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

Christian Science teaches us that another vitally important Bible-based synonym for God is Mind. Having one God, then, meant keeping my thoughts aligned with the one Mind—knowing that there is only one genuine Mind, one true source of intelligence, which is entirely good. The divine Mind would never convey to me the false information that I was a vulnerable mortal, capable of contracting a disease. Mind would tell me that nothing unlike good could attach itself to my identity as God's spiritual, perfect child. I realized that even if I did happen to hear or see news about the flu or laryngitis, I didn't have to be frightened into believing that I, or any of God's children, could be susceptible to something that God did not make.

I also made a daily effort to deny the concept that man lives in a matter-body. How could he, since God, Spirit, fills all space and is the only creator? How could something called matter be added to the allness of Spirit? As the book of Deuteronomy says, "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else." So where do God's children dwell? Safely and securely within the allness of Spirit, as God's pure ideas. Not one of God's children can be left outside this omnipresence.

Soon I really began to lose my fear of seeing the seasons change. I felt assured that I was enveloped in divine Love, where nothing unlike good could penetrate.

Then one night, I was suddenly awakened with what seemed to be those familiar symptoms of the flu. But as I lay quietly in bed, I was absolutely in awe of the wonderful fact that those symptoms couldn't attach themselves to me. They tried but failed. I had finally claimed my real identity as purely spiritual, not material. The symptoms vanished as quickly as they tried to appear. And those particular seasonal diseases that had plagued me for years have never bothered me again in the many years since that time. I learned that when God heals, it is permanent and cannot be reversed. How deeply grateful I feel for God's protecting care!

To me, the preventive aspect of Christian Science is beautiful. We have the divine right to claim each day that which is already ours—our perfection and safety as the beloved ideas of God. All that God, Spirit, makes is good. Anything unlike good is a lie, an illusion, a dream from which we can awake.

If someone left us an inheritance we never claimed, it wouldn't do us any good. And so it is with our magnificent heritage from our Father-Mother God. We do have to claim that which is rightfully ours. And because our intelligence comes from divine Mind, we all have the ability to claim diligently and persistently that which is already ours, that which belongs to each and every one of us. It is a gift from our Father-Mother God.

One of the greatest lessons I learned during this experience was that I not only had to claim my status as the spiritual off-spring of God, but I had to claim everyone's true status. Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, with its emphasis on loving our neighbor, became a pattern of living by which I had to abide. My protection came from being obedient to God's laws as set forth in the Bible, I learned that I had to observe these laws in order to prove God's protective care.

The Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings are filled with instruction for our well-being. As we become better acquainted with divine law through prayer and diligent study, and daily live in harmony with that law to our highest ability, we can expect continuous protection. It is our divine right as cherished children of our dear Father-Mother God.