Turning to God for healing

While good thoughts are essential for one's well-being, the application of Christian Science to healing is far more than changing one's thoughts from bad to good, far more than ''mind over matter.'' It is, instead, turning to God, the one divine Mind, alone for healing.

The Science of Christ emphasizes the truth of God and the truth of man, who is made in His image, as the Bible states. The Scriptures reveal God as the one Supreme Being, infinite Life, Truth, and Love. He is the creator of all that really exists, the one divine consciousness or Mind, omnipresent and omnipotent. Man, as the image or reflection of God, is Godlike, spiritual, perfect, and eternal. This is the true identity of each of us, unseen by the physical senses. These divine truths form the basis of healing in Christian Science.

Their application is shown by the following experience. One day as I was lifting something, I felt a sharp, intense pain in my back. I could hardly move as the pain persisted.

My wife helped me to bed. We immediately began to pray to God for healing. In addition, we called a practitioner to give Christian Science treatment, which includes all the elements of inspired, effective prayer.

My prayer began with a sincere turning to God to know Him better, to see Him more clearly as omnipotent Spirit, omniscient Mind, eternal Life. I realized that He is the one universal cause, the governor and controller of all. I declared that God is totally good and that His creation is therefore good and perfect and wholly spiritual.

I then turned my thought to man - to my true being - and remembered that, as the Bible states, ''God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.'' n1 This enabled me to see that my real selfhood is not material but spiritual, and therefore whole and sound, untouched by pain and suffering. Also, knowing the importance of destroying fear, I declared with conviction that man as God's image can no more be afraid than can God.

n1 Genesis 1:27.

I considered the specific healing truths needed to destroy the painful affliction, remembering that, as Christian Science teaches, we should turn thought away from the body, for the trouble isn't really in matter but rather in thought - that is, in the mortal concept of man as a material being, separate from God, and subject to destructive forces. The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, states in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ''When we remove disease by addressing the disturbed mind, giving no heed to the body, we prove that thought alone creates the suffering.'' n2

n2 Sciences and Health,m p. 400

I realized that my real identity is spiritual and intact; that it is under God's control and cannot be broken, displaced, injured, or deformed. Evil, manifest as pain, is only a false concept and has no actual power to harm or afflict; for Truth, the Supreme Being, maintains man as a spiritual idea, totally apart from the delusive beliefs of evil or the carnal mind. I saw that I am exempt from accidents or destructive forces, for God's image is forever safe, free from all evil. I affirmed my innate perfection as God's witness, remembering the admonition of Christ Jesus, ''Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'' n3

n3 Matthew 5:48

The pain began to subside, and I was able to sleep that night without too much discomfort. The next day we continued praying, and I spent considerable time reading inspiring passages from the Bible and from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health. By the end of the day the pain and immobility were almost gone. The following morning I was fully healed and ready to pursue my regular activities. This healing took place a number of years ago, and the difficulty has never recurred.

The above account touches some of the basic points of Christian Science and its application to healing. The subject is completely covered in Science and Health.

As our understanding of this Science grows, so does our ability to demonstrate it - and our lives become more progressive than ever before. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Jeremiah 17:14