Skin condition gone

Some time ago I had a skin condition that was all over my body. I don’t know what it would be called, but it was very obvious, and people were noticing it and expressing concern for me. Though I was embarrassed about the condition, I’d been learning about Christian Science and felt convinced the problem could be healed. In fact, I was really interested to see how this healing would come about.

So I dug into prayer and study of the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science. At first I was looking for one idea that would sort of “zap” the problem. It was a really purifying time, during which fears about so many things in my life were exposed and dissolved.

I spent long periods in deep study, just being alone with God and filled with inspiration. Gradually, my thoughts stopped orbiting around the physical problem and how to heal it. Instead, my whole consciousness was being drawn toward God and away from self-rumination. Many mornings, I would wake up feeling enveloped in the presence of God, divine Love and Mind, feeling the “peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

In retrospect, I see that this was illustrating this statement in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy: “the divine Mind makes perfect, acts upon the so-called human mind through truth, leads the human mind to relinquish all error, to find the divine Mind to be the only Mind, and the healer of sin, disease, death” (p. 251).

One day, I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Another mark was appearing. Ugh! But I wasn’t alarmed. What came out of my mouth, almost as if someone else was saying it, was one word: a soft, gentle, absolutely final “no.” I will never forget the feeling that followed. It was as if someone had just left the room and closed the door softly behind them.

At that moment, in the stillness and silence, I had a sudden and complete awareness that this problem was over. I absolutely knew that it was over. And sure enough, during the next three days, all evidence of the skin condition vanished, much as shadows get shorter and then disappear as the sun rises overhead.

I learned a lot that day about spiritual healing. I learned that there’s no spiritual “silver bullet.” Truth, another name for God, is like the light, and just as light shines through the darkness and dispels it, divine Truth shines through and dispels fear in human consciousness, bringing healing.

As we turn humbly to God’s love and care, and let fear be gently uncovered and removed, we find that God guides us to whatever healing inspiration we need at the moment.

Adapted from a testimony published in the June 17, 2013, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.