When I was a young child, I suffered from what are today referred to as migraine headaches. Normally, when one came, my mother would call a Christian Science practitioner to give Christian Science treatment, and I would get relief, fall asleep peacefully, and be just fine when I awakened in the morning.

On one occasion, though, when I was in kindergarten or first grade, I was not getting relief from the pain. My mother came and sat with me, praying. She knew that God loves and cares for His children, and also knew from experience that Christian Science heals.

She turned to me and, calling me by my nickname, lovingly said, “Derry, say, ‘God loves me.’ ” Now, this was an idea I had learned in Christian Science Sunday School, and I had often declared it, but this time, I stubbornly refused to say it at first. Finally, I started to say it, but the pain seemed too strong, and instead I said, “I can’t. I can’t. It hurts too much.”

My mother replied gently but firmly, “If you can say, ‘I can’t. I can’t. It hurts too much,’ you can say, ‘God loves me.’ ”

The logic of this reached me through the pain and made sense to me, so I sobbed out, “God … loves … me.”

As I finished the last word, it felt as if a soft hand wiped gently across my forehead from right to left, and the pain was gone! That was the end of it. I was free. In a later year I came across a promise in the Bible’s book of Revelation that expressed perfectly what had happened: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; ... neither shall there be any more pain” (21:4).

Of course, the healing hadn’t come from the words in and of themselves. It was about what was behind them. My mother had encouraged me to acknowledge God’s love, and it was this divine Love that had broken through the pain. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Mary Baker Eddy explains, “It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion” (p. 97).

This healing had a great effect on my life. First, it was a proof for me that there really is a God. I had felt God’s healing presence. Next, it was a proof to me that God does know and love me and is there for me. When we turn wholeheartedly to Him, we can recognize His presence and love. I have held these lessons in my mental storehouse and turned to them often in the years since. Applying them has resulted in countless healings—further proofs that applying the Science of the Christ does heal.

For instance, when I was a young man, the migraines began to recur. One day, I read in a pamphlet that migraine headaches were incurable, but could be controlled with drugs. I absolutely rebelled at that statement, declaring, “Oh no, they are not incurable. Nothing is incurable to God, and I am going to prove it!” 

Over a period of about a year, I gave myself prayerful Christian Science treatment. It took diligence and persistence, but the time came when I realized that things that in the past had seemed to trigger the headaches were no longer doing so, and I knew I was healed. And I was: That was decades ago, and I have not had a headache of any sort since.

I am very grateful for having had the privilege of attending Christian Science Sunday School, which taught me so many simple, yet powerful, truths about God and my relation to Him; for membership in The Mother Church and its branches throughout my years; for Primary class instruction in Christian Science by an authorized teacher of Christian Science; for fellow Christian Scientists who selflessly pray for those who ask, with such wonderful healing results; and for Mary Baker Eddy, who, when she discovered this Science, did not keep it to herself but delved into it deeply and shared it with the world.

R. Derek Swire 
Flagstaff, Arizona, US