Severe menstrual cramps healed permanently

Although each healing along life’s path is important, there are usually a few experiences that stand out as waymarks in our growth Spiritward. For me, the following healing was just such an experience.

When I was in graduate school in California, I was introduced to Christian Science through several friends as well as my flute teacher. Soon I went to a Christian Science Reading Room, purchased a copy of Science and Health, and began studying. For the first time the answers I discovered in this book to my theological questions made sense to me, and I felt I’d found a spiritual home. In a short time, I started attending a local Church of Christ, Scientist, and when I moved east, I joined my local Christian Science church.

The summer after completing graduate school, I participated in a music festival in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. One afternoon a friend and I went hiking in the mountains, and I was suddenly overcome with severe menstrual cramps. For a number of years I’d suffered greatly at this time of the month and, before becoming a Christian Scientist, had sought all kinds of medical opinions on how to relieve the pain and discomfort associated with this claim. However, nothing ever seemed to be effective. When I was an undergraduate, I would go to the campus infirmary seeking relief, but I was virtually bedridden for a day or two and unable to carry on my normal activities during these times.

On this particular afternoon, the friend I was with wasn’t a Christian Scientist, and when I became paralyzed with pain, I encouraged her to go on and hike to the summit while I stayed behind to pray. She was concerned, but went ahead. Because I was unable to walk, for a few moments I worried about how I would get down the mountain before sunset. I lay down on the ground and reached out to God, bolstered, in hindsight, by the fact that there was no other choice!

At this time of extreme need, the thought that came to me was to pray with a favorite psalm: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). Instead of just repeating this verse over and over, I really prayed each word—searched for its spiritual and scientific meaning.

Be said to me that I needed to be at peace, to be what I truly was—spiritual and perfect. This was my oneness with God. Still showed me that I had to be quiet and listen to God alone, and not my body. To turn from the mistaken testimony of the physical senses, and see that only God could communicate my status and condition. I saw this was linked with understanding that there is only one God, one Mind, one power, one source of being, one intelligence. Then, it was essential both to be still and to know who God is. To know, to understand, to learn, to affirm, to expand on the spiritual fact that Spirit is God, Truth is God, Soul is God, Life is God, and that there could be no separation between me and this perfect Principle, Love.

As I prayed, the idea began to dawn in my thoughts that I was free from any curse falsely attributed to womanhood—that I couldn’t be assigned a set of qualities and handicaps by virtue of being a woman. I was the beloved daughter of God, made in His image. I couldn’t be imposed upon by cycles or material theories. I then thought of Mary Baker Eddy’s instruction, “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts” (Science and Health, p. 261). This amplified for me the message that instead of pain, anxiety, and discomfort, I could experience only my God-given freedom. Without moving from this mental standpoint, I would find healing.

I’m not sure exactly how long I prayed, but I do know that by the time these truths really took hold in my thoughts, I was totally healed of all pain. With my newfound freedom, I bounded up to the summit and met my friend. She couldn’t believe what had happened, but this gave me a wonderful opportunity to share some of the truths of Christian Science with her as we completed our excursion back down the mountain before dark. One of the most wonderful rewards of this healing was that I never again suffered from menstrual cramps.

Over the years, the passage from Psalms and the wonderful assurance in Science and Health that came to me that day have remained a cherished reminder of God’s great power to surmount any challenge.

Marie Jureit-Beamish | Stuart, Florida, US