Hi Elizabeth! Ever since when I was in nursery school, I had some kind of physical problem that made me go into really painful seizures whenever I did anything remotely active (like recess). So I went through all of lower school never doing PE, recess, or anything – never even learned to jump rope. I got really tired of this and eventually decided that if what I was learning in Sunday School was true, I ought to be able to play 6th grade football. I mean, why would an idea be of God also be subject to ideas unlike God? Although I didn’t know this citation at the time, I was deciding to put into practice Mrs. Eddy’s words on 264:10 of Science and Health.

I had a complete healing of this problem in a year. The really neat thing was that I proceeded to do 4 years of wrestling in high school, 3 years of football, and then danced for 6 years in high school and college as well as playing ultimate frisbee every decent day – all without any remnant of the problem. The reason that’s neat, is because I never learned (through physical exercise) how to be athletic. I missed out on all those ‘formative’ years of learning to run, throw, jump, everything. But God’s work is done, and I can’t miss it. I’ve continued to really enjoy outdoor activities, too :-)

So, for me, the key was to live right there in that day – asking my PE coach if I could join them that day for football – and not bask in the dim darkness of the past. The past will never give a reason to do anything, or allow us to do anything – it’s the presence of Christ which enables us to see the fulness of Life, expressed in life. Also, I had to realize (as we all do) that I was loved – I wasn’t left out of God’s care, or been messed up. I was indivisible from God, good. Finally, I had to recognize (and this is a daily opportunity!) that healing isn’t up to any person, but is simply a revealing of the beautiful, individual, cherished work that our Father-Mother has done.

You’re really so loved :-)

I wanted to add something to Chet’s quote about “pouring in truth through flood-tides of love” really quick that a CS practitioner shared last year, which I thought was fascinating. First of all, in the book Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer, the following is recorded as something Mrs. Eddy wrote to Irving Tomlinson:

Suppose you had two vessels into which you were pouring water. While one filled rapidly, you observed that the other made no gain. On investigation you found that there was a leak, and as fast as you poured it in, it ran away. Your remedy would be to pour in a larger stream until the vessel was filled. So, in healing the sick if the case does not respond, pour in the Truth in larger stream until the patient feels the presence of life and life alone.

Then to follow up with that, here is something that Craig Ghislin, CS said about this passage:

What do you notice that's odd about that? She doesn't mention a thing about fixing the bucket! Our tendency is to want to fix the bucket. She's saying, "forget the bucket; pour in more water!" Now if the bucket represents the patient, there's nothing to fix. If you're not making the headway that you should, keep pouring in more truth through flood-tides of Love.

I just read this great blog that has a really great point that will help anyone dealing with a long standing problem.

http://michellenanoucheinenglish.weebly.com/4/post/2012/01/when-panicked-get-a-grip-on-good.html

Thanks everyone. Still working on it but you all helped. I am not giving up.