God's help is always available

CAN one ever truly be alone or lack proper care if God, the great Physician, is always present to meet every need? The Father is an incomparable healer. His help is available to everyone at all times. In Scripture we find God's promise ''I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.'' n1 And the Psalmist proclaims, ''Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.'' n2

n1 Jeremiah 30:17

n2 Psalms 103:2, 3.

Both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible are filled with examples of God's healing and restorative power. Each case points to the availability of a universal Principle that can be applied to any challenge confronting us.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ''The divine Principle of healing is proved in the personal experience of any sincere seeker of Truth. Its purpose is good, and its practice is safer and more potent than that of any other sanitary method.'' n3

n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. x.

Our family has found this to be so. For five generations my mother's side of the family has relied on God for healing. An understanding of Him as infinite Life, divine Love, has brought freedom and protection wherever we have lived. We have had proof of both the preventive and therapeutic aspects of spiritual healing in our lives.

As children we were largely free from the so-called childhood diseases. Burns , cuts, and bruises have cleared up quickly without pain or inconvenience. Colds have vanished in a flash, and asthmatic attacks have been overcome. On one occasion, acute abdominal pain and hemorrhaging were stopped entirely through the understanding that God is the source of all life and that man is absolutely inseparable from Him. We also have been protected during accidents and during flu, cholera, and other epidemics while traveling.

Through experience we have come to understand more of what Mrs. Eddy meant when she wrote, referring to God: ''We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained, and we should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, simply because, to the mortal senses, there is seeming discord. It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony.'' n4

n4 Ibid., p. 390

Through prayer, and study of the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings, we have gained real conviction of God's absolute supremacy. We have come to see that man is forever encompassed by infinite, divine Love, which cares for him in all ways.

The Bible shows us that God is the only genuine creator and that everything He creates, including man, expresses His nature. Since God is Spirit, man in reality must be spiritual rather than material, for Spirit cannot create matter, its opposite. It follows, then, that Spirit can't create, and hasn't created, the ills of the flesh. This is why we have divine authority to overcome matter's limitations and impositions, just as Jesus, the world's Way-shower, did when he healed ''all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people'' n5 and taught his disciples to do likewise.

n5 Matthew 4:23

Matter does not, in actual fact, make conditions for man. Perfect and indestructible Spirit constitutes man's real being now and always. Health and harmony are permanent attributes of God's man. They cannot be undermined or threatened, for there is no destructive element in God's creation. To the degree that we recognize and claim man's spiritual selfhood, rejecting the belief that discord is inevitable, or even real, our lives become more healthy and stable.

The truth of spiritual being is potent, and it heals without adverse effects. It can restore one completely and permanently, and there need be no delay or lengthy recuperative period. Even a glimpse of man's true status as a perfect, spiritual being in God can bring release from suffering, no matter how longstanding.

Isn't it in the world's best interest that we get to know the Father? Daily Bible Verse Why art thou cast down, O my soul? . . . hope thou in God: for I shall praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalms 42:11