Time and again I've seen that when any discord arises in my life, it's a call to spiritualize my thoughts. I've also found that each resulting healing is unique—it's never a matter of recycling insights gained in the past, but of taking hold of a fresh opportunity to increase my understanding of God as Truth.

Some years ago on a Sunday afternoon, I became very ill. I couldn't keep any food down, and my whole body was painfully uncomfortable. Science and Health teaches the mental nature of all things, and that false beliefs are the source of physical discord. For example, we read on page 425, "Correct material belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form you anew." So I began to pray to lift my thoughts to the spiritual view of myself—the true view—and to see that sickness was a mistaken concept that had no place in God. His goodness is infinite.

I stayed home from work for the next two days, but when the discomfort didn't abate, I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. Shortly after our conversation, I turned to God and said, "Father, please show me what it is I need to know." Immediately, a visit from a relative some months back came to thought. I'd felt that this person had been very unkind to me, and I'd been quite disturbed by it. Right away, I realized that this concept of anyone as an unkind mortal needed to be replaced with the truth of our real nature as the reflection of God, who is infinite Love. The man and woman of God's creating, then, can only be loving, lovable, and loved. As I thought about this truth, I felt completely well again. The reaction to my relative that I'd been holding on to all that time dissolved, and along with it, every bit of physical pain. My normal strength returned, and I slept peacefully through the night. The next morning, I told my wife that I was hungry, and then enjoyed a full breakfast. That afternoon I returned to work, rejoicing.

Some time later, I had an opportunity to go deeper with the idea of what it means to reflect God's perfection. Our office was expecting business guests for a sales meeting, and shortly before they were to arrive, I began to experience a severe pain in my abdomen. The pain became so intense that I told the president of the company I needed to miss the meeting, and I went home.

At first I could neither sit nor lie down, and even to stand was very uncomfortable. All this time, I prayed with scientific truths from the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, in order to see the impossibility that I could suffer. One idea that came powerfully to my thought was a quote from Science and Health: "Man is spiritual and perfect; and because he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so understood in Christian Science" (p. 475). I realized this was what I must do. As an expression of the one perfect, omnipotent God, who is everywhere, I needed to understand my perfection.

This involved rejecting the falsehood that I was a mortal being existing apart from God, struggling with a belief in a painful condition that a material body had originated. Instead, I needed to hold to the truth of God's creation, and the purely spiritual, harmonious, complete man, whom I individually manifested here and now and always. In addition to my own prayers, I also decided to get some support from a Christian Science practitioner.

Soon I was able to lie down. I prayed most of the night, claiming for myself the real and powerful perfection of my Creator, and therefore of myself.

The following day, I found that I could attend a previously scheduled business meeting. Although I was still not able to stand completely upright, the individual with whom I met made little comment about it, and our discussion was productive.

That night and the next day, I continued to pray. Gradually, I began to realize more of what it means to be made in the likeness of God, and to be completely spiritual. I saw and felt my status as the beloved offspring of my divine Parent, not influenced by materiality, or bodily pleasure or pain, but wholly maintained by divine Mind. Although I was still experiencing discomfort, I knew I'd reached a new point in my spiritual understanding.

When I spoke with the practitioner, he said I should rejoice and give gratitude to God. That night as I lay in bed, I thanked God for the healing proof of His love. As I was expressing this gratitude, I felt something untwist in my stomach area, and the pain completely vanished. I rejoiced in a total and complete healing, which has been permanent.

The great benefit of prayer in Christian Science is that it always gets to the root of a discordant situation, heals the problem, and takes us higher.

LEON GLEAVES
WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA, US