My husband and I love to go backpacking in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington State. One fall, we planned a trip with friends, trying to time our hike so that the Western Larch trees would be at their radiant best before they lost their needles for winter. 

But a week before we planned to set out, dozens of people in the office I worked in fell ill, and rumors of strep throat were a topic of conversation. My co-workers made predictions about the likely course of events, sprayed the office with disinfectants, and insisted on rigorous hand-washing. 

Instead of being intimidated by my colleagues and the germs they were concerned about, I knew I needed to pray to understand that getting sick was not inevitable. We can’t just ignore a problem and have it go away; we have to actively protect ourselves by understanding what God knows about us. When confronted with a challenge, we have to face it and work it out, proving its nothingness.

I really enjoy this passage by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The rule is already established, and it is our task to work out the solution. Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own work? His work is done, and we have only to avail ourselves of God’s rule in order to receive His blessing, which enables us to work out our own salvation” (p. 3).

At that time in the office, I had recognized the problem, but hadn’t given it much more thought. A few days later, my husband and I were on our way into the mountains, which were breathtaking as we negotiated the steep terrain of Aasgard Pass, and arrived at what felt like a fairytale landscape. Granite rock contrasted with blue lakes, and—yes!—the larch trees were just beginning to change from green to gold. Mountain goats roamed the steep slopes, and fish meandered through the clearest imaginable water.

After a couple of days exploring the lakes and mountain peaks around us, we worked our way down from lake to lake and set up camp for the last night. Suddenly, as we worked, I was overcome with an excruciatingly painful throat. I’d suffered in this way several times in college and knew that it could take me a couple weeks to recover fully.

However, this time I said to myself, “Absolutely not!” I mentally refused to accept a view of myself as sick, and instead acknowledged that God was in control and never causes His children to suffer or become sick.

Since learning back in college about Christian Science from the man who is now my husband, I have really connected with the idea that God is divine Love, and His love governs the universe and every aspect of our lives in accord with a universal law of harmony. I have stopped looking at myself as vulnerable, and grown to understand that I’m always protected as God’s loved idea, and that nothing can separate me from this love.

During our hiking expeditions, I’d begun carrying a small iPod with my favorite hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal on it. I just love being able to listen to these songs of praise and prayer, and find it helps me turn my thought to God and more clearly see His law in action.

I'm always protected as God's loved idea, and nothing can separate me from this love.

On this occasion, when the symptoms appeared, I asked my husband, Josh, to pray for me. He has a full-time healing ministry as a Christian Science practitioner, and we both knew we could expect immediate results from prayer. I went to the tent to lie down in my sleeping bag and cozied up with God while listening to the hymns on my iPod. I wanted to be constantly aware that I was loved and guided only by God.

Then it occurred to me that the first of the Commandments makes it clear that we should have no gods other than our supreme heavenly Father-Mother (see Exodus 20:3).

I asked myself: “What am I believing? Am I accepting that there is a power greater than God that has the ability to inflict me with pain, or disable me in any way?”

It came to me that nothing could get in the way of my experiencing and expressing God’s harmony on this hike, or any other trip for that matter. It was an adventure I was very grateful to be on, and the natural beauty surrounding us was there to be recognized in more ways than I could have imagined.

The first hymn that rang out carried a message that was as strong and impressive as the mountains we’d walked through:

“This is so perfect,” I thought. “I’m in a place where I feel so peaceful, taking in God’s glory, which is filling the sky and is reflected all around me. I don’t just believe that God is here with me, I can actually feel His reassuring presence. God’s glory really is on display here, and I’m here to obey and be a witness to His glory.”

Hymn after hymn brought a sense of freedom I’d seldom felt quite that way before. It was as if each of these hymns was directing me onto the very path I needed to be hiking mentally.

In less than an hour, I realized that every symptom of illness had vanished completely. At that point, Josh poked his head into the tent and smiled at me, and I gave him a big smile back. The pain had gone as quickly as it had arrived.

The next day included some really tough hiking over boulders and steep switchbacks, and I enjoyed every minute of it, taking in the beauty God blesses us with in so many ways. I was so happy.

I’ve seen over and over that as we awaken to spiritual reality, understanding that nothing can separate us from God, limitations and burdens fall away naturally, and health and harmony are established. No matter where our adventures take us, God is right with us to comfort and heal us. Time and space are not factors, as I learned there in the mountains. It just takes a moment to glimpse the nature of God, and in that moment ... healing happens!