Healed of hepatitis

Many years ago, when my husband and I were living and working overseas, my husband began to experience a yellowing of his skin and other alarming symptoms over a period of about two weeks. He didn’t feel that bad – just a little “off” – but his colleagues, including some PhD’s in the health-care field, were all convinced he had hepatitis, which can cause many of the symptoms he was experiencing.

Because of the concern of my husband’s colleagues and others, he and I went to a medical facility, as suggested, for testing. When the results came back they showed that we both had hepatitis.

The doctors told us there was no medication to take, but that rest and staying at home were mandatory. There were many projections about the seriousness of this disease and its potential long-term effects. The doctors said it could take anywhere up to six months to recover from. In fact, my husband’s boss had been out of work for six months when he had been diagnosed with this disease.

Our family had already experienced many healings through prayer, and my husband and I were both convinced that this condition also would be quickly and permanently healed. We turned to our understanding of God to get a different view of the situation—a spiritual perspective. We also asked a Christian Science practitioner, a professional who helps people find healing through prayer, to pray with us.

We realized that we were dealing with this question: Is this claim of disease the truth about us, or is it opinion? An opinion is defined in the dictionary as “a belief strong enough to make an impression but not strong enough to be true.” So we had a choice whether to be impressed. Even though we were surrounded by well-meaning people who felt this disease was truly part of us, and the blood tests showed the existence of this disease, we chose not to be impressed.

That’s not to say that the doctor’s diagnosis was medically off. Rather, we saw that this assessment, while materially accurate, didn’t hold up to the spiritual reality. It wasn’t what God knew to be the truth or the fact about us. This larger truth, sustained by divine authority, renders material evidence unfounded.

The facts about God’s man – which includes everyone – are boundless, but there were a few that stood out to me as I prayed. One is, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. . . . And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:27, 31). And as I have learned from Christian Science, as the image of God, divine Spirit, our true identity is spiritual and untarnished. So even in the face of a serious or seemingly irrefutable prognosis, I saw that we could trust in the spiritual fact of our wholeness and safety.

We were confident that God is more than capable of overcoming any illness. And that is just how it all worked out. In three-and-a-half weeks my husband was back at work, looking and feeling healthy, and I was back operating my own business. This healing took place years ago and there have never been any lingering effects.

Have you heard the saying, “One on God’s side is a majority”? We don’t need to fear any opinion if we are part of God’s majority. We are all safe in God’s care.

Adapted from a testimony in the Aug. 20, 2012, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.