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 DISCOVERING SCIENCE AND HEALTH AND ITS AUTHOR

The ultimate "face-off"

I'VE BEEN ASKED many times why I use prayer to gain relief from physical ailments or to overcome stress or some other challenge in my life. Sometimes when this question comes up, I find that people want to know about the "what ifs" as well. They'll pose scenarios with the most horrific possibilities and ask if I'd still rely on prayer if I found myself in "that situation." However the question comes, it leads me to ask myself, "Why do I choose prayer?"

Finding a true answer to that question has required me to face myself honestly. Facing oneself isn't always easy or comfortable, but deeper investigation into one's beliefs and motives can lead to healthy mental progress. This has required searching to understand the "whys" and "hows" of the way I think and live my life. There have been numerous opportunities for me to have a "face-off" in my search for spiritual meaning, especially when I have been threatened with incurability or extreme stress. By face-off, I mean a confrontation with my innermost fears and beliefs.

At one point I had sought medical relief for an increasingly painful back problem. When I left the doctor's office, I felt total despair. I was told that I had arthritis of the spine and was becoming crippled. I pictured myself in a wheelchair with no ability to care for my child. Life as I knew it would end. At the same time, my young daughter was diagnosed as having asthma. I remember driving home and feeling that there must be an answer. I just couldn't accept that this was why I was here and how I would need to live until I finally died! It is at times such as these that I've actually found myself at a point of opportunity.

At that moment the opportunity came in the form of recalling a book I had known when I was growing up but had put aside. It is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Picking up this book again wasn't easy, because I knew it would require me to look at my situation from a totally spiritual perspective. I wrestled with the overwhelming fear that if it didn't solve my problems I'd be more confused. Those thoughts of "What would you do if . . ." haunted me. I would mentally leap from my present challenges to the worst imaginable situation, and question whether the ideas in Science and Health could be trusted.

WHEN I LOOK BACK on this experience, I realize just how we can be tricked into thinking that imagining the worst possible scenario will somehow lead us to the right solution for a problem. No one knows for sure what he or she would do in a given situation. We can all probably agree that we would either rely on what we've always trusted, or be forced to find a whole new approach-maybe even one that was radically different from anything we'd known before.

Because I didn't feel I had many choices, I quickly decided that reading Science and Health was worth a try. As I started reading, two things happened: I instinctively felt that this book provided the answer, and I began to find a peace I hadn't had for a very long time. There is a wonderful Bible verse that includes the promise I was looking for: "God shall give . . . an answer of peace." 1 I wanted that kind of answer; I wanted to feel that I had an anchor of support for any problem! That's a tall order, but reading Science and Health gave me just that.

In the chapter "Prayer," Mrs. Eddy says, "We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are." 2 To me, this is the ultimate face-off.

This experience required more examination than one article can explain. But suffice it to say, after studying the book for a couple of months, I was healed, and so was my daughter. We both have remained completely free of those troubles. Today when someone asks me "Why do you choose prayer?" I can honestly say it is because prayer works. Science and Health gives me the understanding I need to
pray effectively. It explains Christian Science Mind-healing as a scientific approach to health and wellness. It also helped me find a way to feel I had control over my life. It continues to teach me that there is a divine source, a higher power-the one omnipotent God-ready and able to answer the most private and challenging issues. And I could see that Mary Baker Eddy wrote this book from experience-from hard-fought battles with ill health, poverty, and the death of close family members. For me, it makes Science and Health more believable to know that its author proved what she understood to be the truth.

Over the Christmas holidays of 1999, I discovered that almost everywhere I went-bookstores, grocery stores, beauty salons-people were interested in thinking from a spiritual perspective. I had many opportunities to share what I've learned through my study of Science and Health. For example, when I
was purchasing a book as a gift, the salesperson was grateful for my patience while he dealt with an irate customer. As a result of this, I was able to direct him to Science and Health (on his store's bookshelves) as a resource for finding a way to gain more control and peace under stressful situations.

Mrs. Eddy speaks of seeking "the solution of this problem of Mind-healing" for three years after her discovery. She describes it this way: "The search was sweet, calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing." 3 Her words can help the new or devoted reader see those face-off challenges as golden opportunities to "face up" to a better, more peaceful way of living. It isn't always easy, but the rewards are worth the effort. I continue to marvel at how secure my life is in knowing that wherever I am, whatever I am doing, whomever I meet, the ideas in Science and Health give practical, immediate solutions.

1 Gen. 41:16.
2 Science and Health, p. 8.
3 Ibid., p. 109.

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Featured Articles from previous issues of The Christian Science Journal

Ecology and spirituality by Glen Lauder from the July 2000 issue of the Journal.

The Christlike basis for healing by David E. Sleeper from the June 2000 issue of the Journal.

Heading True Northby Kim Shippey from the May 2000 issue of the Journal.

Nurture children through seeing what the Father does by Channing Walker from the April 2000 issue of the Journal.

Healing the "Incurable" by Janet Heiniman Clements from the March 2000 issue of the Journal.

Abolishing mental slavery by Nathan A. Talbot from the February 2000 issue of the Journal.

Spiritual momentum and the unfolding good of the true millennium by William E. Moody from the January 2000 issue of the Journal.

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