Pain in groin healed

Originally published in Le Héraut de la Science Chrétienne

I am a civil engineering technician, and I work on construction sites as a site foreman. One evening in June 2004, as I came home from work, I felt a sudden pain in the groin area. I couldn’t even sit down. So I lay down and tried to remain calm and pray.

Although some people I know had suffered from similar symptoms and had to undergo surgery for diagnosed hernias, I had no thought of resolving this situation other than by prayer. And that is why, having studied the teachings of Christian Science for many years, I was aware of my status as the perfect child of God, created—as we read in Genesis—in His likeness. I had already had many opportunities to experience the good effects of total trust in God’s complete goodness, in particular when I was healed through prayer of hemorrhoids, from which I had suffered since birth.

Getting out of bed the next day was very difficult for me, but I left for work, sustained by the trust I placed in God and by this passage from the Bible that I was constantly praying with: “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Ps. 37:5). I arrived at the job site limping because I had no strength in my back, but I continued to pray. It came to me that in my prayer I should acknowledge the perfect love of God and affirm my obedience to my Creator. I remembered that Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “It is only by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator” (Science and Health, p. 491).

I began to think deeply about this, to acknowledge that I was the spiritual image and likeness of God, and that the image could not be sick because the original was not sick. As a child of God I was not a material man made up of brain, nerves, flesh, skin, and so on. This confirmed what I had learned in Christian Science (see the description of generic man in Science and Health, p. 475). I was able to complete my work at the site that day, and then I went home, where I continued to pray and study. I also prayed with that week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson (outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly) and read it at least twice.

By the third day my physical condition still hadn’t improved, and my friends at the construction site commented on my limping and asked me what was going on. I reassured them, but decided not to give them any details so as not to raise any concerns.

At noon a colleague invited me to have lunch with him. Afterward I felt so ill with pain that I went to visit a friend who lived next door to the restaurant and owns a copy of Science and Health. This friend and I get along very well, and I was able to go into one of his bedrooms to read the book quietly. I read the whole chapter titled “Recapitulation.” I also read some passages from the chapters on the teaching and the practice of Christian Science. One that spoke to me very much is on page 414, and it says, “Keep in mind the verity of being,—that man is the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is painless and permanent.” It became very clear to me that I was spiritual. I was the image of divine perfection, and I reflected only God’s perfection, goodness, wisdom, intelligence, purity, health, and holiness. I read for more than an hour and a half, and felt wonderfully embraced and peaceful. Then I fell asleep.

After about 15 minutes I woke up and found that the pain was dissipating bit by bit. Since I was done working for the day, I got ready to go home. Then suddenly the pain redoubled in intensity. At that point, however, I no longer felt any fear. I only said to God, “I’ve done my part of the work, the rest is up to You.” And I was sure that God, in reality, had already accomplished the healing. In spite of the pain, I went home feeling completely calm. Less than three hours later I felt no more suffering. All symptoms of the difficulty had disappeared. This has been a permanent healing.

I truly am very, very grateful for the teachings of Christian Science, which have helped me resolve all kinds of problems.

Paul Pierre Banom | Douala, Cameroon