Cured of cancer
Informed by doctors that she was terminally ill, a woman turned wholeheartedly to God. Through prayer, her spiritual understanding deepened, and she was completely healed.
At one point in my life I became seriously ill. I wanted to rely on Christian Science, as I had experienced many proofs of God’s healing power in my life. However, in order to allay the fear of my friends, who were not Christian Scientists, I went to the hospital. I underwent numerous tests, and several doctors were consulted to assess the results. They told me there was nothing they could do to help me, because there was no known medical treatment that could cure this disease. They said that only a miracle could save me and that I was going to die. They mentioned a specific name for the disease, a particular type of cancer.
Later, on one occasion, when visiting a bookstore, I was tempted to look up the name in a medical reference book I came across. When I turned to the page, what I read was horrifying. However, I heard a very loud voice saying, “No! This is not true! You are the image and likeness of God!” This is how the Bible describes God’s children in its first book, Genesis.
Genesis also describes the life that God created as “very good” (1:31). When we’re receptive to this reality of our true nature as children of God, we experience that goodness more fully in our daily lives. The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, explains in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” on page 392: “Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously.” However, by succumbing to the temptation to seek details about this illness, I had already admitted fear, devastation, and chaos into my thought. I had to throw these out of my thought by letting in divine Love, spiritual-mindedness, and purity.
The verdict that there was no medical treatment available made my friends accept my decision to rely entirely on Christian Science. I asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. And I began to start reversing the devastating verdict by turning wholeheartedly to God.
During this period, the Lord’s Prayer with its spiritual interpretation by Mary Baker Eddy opened my eyes and took on new meaning for me – particularly this part about God: “Hallowed be Thy name. / Adorable One” (Science and Health, p. 16).
If God is the adorable One – the omnipotent and supreme – I cannot be impressed by any other name. I studied names for God, derived from the Bible and given in the Christian Science textbook: “Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence” (Science and Health, p. 587). I reasoned that if God is all substance, then there can be nothing, unlike Him that can claim to be substance or to have any effect. If God is Life, then I fully reflect Life. If God is Truth, I can attest to Truth as all-power. If God is Love, I am encircled by and filled with love. There is no space for fear. I felt God’s love for me, as His precious child. And all fear vanished.
In my spiritual studies and prayers I longed to better understand God and my relation to Him. The practitioner asked me to pray with “the scientific statement of being” given in the Christian Science textbook on page 468, which begins: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all.”
I asked myself: What is true about my identity? God’s idea is pure and precious. Can there be anything that is so unlike God manifesting itself in me, and destroying my spiritual identity? If God is All-in-all, there is nothing that can exist outside His all-goodness – and I exist in His goodness.
The great truth in the Science of being is that we are, we were, and we always shall be perfect, as the image, and the full reflection, of God – painless, pure, and whole. The material sciences cannot inform me of my being; through prayer I deepened my spiritual understanding, and I found answers to the question, “What is my true being?” God is Life, and God is my life. Thus I express vitality, strength, and joy.
In about two weeks I was completely healed. This occurred more than 25 years ago, and the healing has been complete and permanent.
Christian Science is reliable, effective, and available to everyone. Indeed, God is omnipotent – the adorable One.
Adapted from a testimony published in the January 2021 issue of The Christian Science Journal.