'With God's help, I could stop pain'

Ian D. Williamson

A couple of years ago, I would sometimes develop painful cramps in my legs after strenuous exercise. Later, I began to get cramps in my feet as I lay in bed at night. On these occasions I would try to pray for myself by reasoning that God was always with me, and that therefore I could only live in harmony.

At first the only ways for me to get relief from the severe pain were to get out of bed and walk around or to force my feet against the bottom of the bed. If I didn't take this action, the pain would escalate beyond control. But my choice for ultimately healing this condition was prayer.

One night I lay in bed praying. I knew that there was a spiritual path to obtaining complete freedom from the pain. Such healing, I'd learned, came from understanding that God had made me healthy and well. Reliance on this truth had always proved by far the best healing for me. It had lifted me many times out of ill health and brought me to a new level of wellness, happiness, and gratitude.

I knew
that there was
a spiritual path
to obtaining
complete freedom
from the pain.

I remembered a story that Mary Baker Eddy related in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that points to the mental nature of physical suffering and its cure: "The effect of mortal mind on health and happiness is seen in this: If one turns away from the body with such absorbed interest as to forget it, the body experiences no pain. Under the strong impulse of a desire to perform his part, a noted actor was accustomed night after night to go upon the stage and sustain his appointed task, walking about as actively as the youngest member of the company. This old man was so lame that he hobbled every day to the theatre, and sat aching in his chair till his cue was spoken,—a signal which made him as oblivious of physical infirmity as if he had inhaled chloroform, though he was in the full possession of his so-called senses" (p. 261).

In thinking about this account, I saw clearly that my thoughts governed my body. I decided that, when the cramps occurred, I had to turn my thoughts completely away from bodily pain. I needed to face the fear of overwhelming pain with the assurance that I was safe in the care of God. I decided that if the problem recurred, I would first stay calm and not react to the pain. And that I would pray by realizing I was God's likeness—the image of Spirit—and that my spiritual identity was ageless and painless.

The next time the cramps began, I put my resolve into action. I prayed. I refused to let my thoughts dwell on the symptoms. Instead I held to spiritual facts about myself as being God's child. As I did this, the pain quickly faded away. This proved to me that with God's help I could stop pain. And with this proof, my fear of the pain soon disappeared. After a few weeks of persistent prayer in this manner, the difficulty was gone for good. I have remained free of cramps ever since.

Ian D. Williamson
Samford, Queensland
Australia

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