“I learnt about the operation of divine Principle, while the medics believed they were observing man.”

I’m sincerely grateful to God for the example of Jesus Christ and the teachings of Christian Science and how practical they are in our daily life. I’m grateful for the practitioners who are tirelessly holding on to Truth and serving as a beacon of light for the Christian Science community.

I would like to share a recent experience that further reinforces my understanding of the efficacy of Christian Science treatment. At the end of July this year, I began to have headaches, loss of appetite, and weakness.

I recall it was a Sunday evening. I had felt great in the morning. I had a good breakfast. I enjoyed a beautiful service in church and attended a quarterly meeting at my local branch church afterwards. But upon my return home, it seemed like my day took a turn for the worse. That afternoon I held on to the truths I had learnt in Christian Science class instruction.

I had been serving in my country’s mandatory National Youth Corp in another state, but was visiting my mom to celebrate the birthday of a family member (knowing it would mean a lot to the person). I knew, as I am learning in Science and Health, that I couldn’t be punished for doing good. I felt a sense of pressure to be back to my perfect self by the birthday. Looking back, that was the wrong premise to start from. I am always perfect. So I willed myself to feel well (another wrong premise, I now realize) and I rested. By the time I woke up I actually felt better. I was up on my feet. My appetite was regained and all seemed well and good.

By evening, the symptoms resurfaced. I was extremely disappointed. My reason for coming home seemed jeopardised. The night was a struggle and it continued till the morning.

I made a brief appearance at the birthday. On seeing me, one of the guests who is a medical doctor immediately pronounced that I had acute malaria and that I must get treatment right away. I thanked him and thought it best to leave the party.

Then I got a call from a friend who persisted in telling me that someone had passed on from these symptoms recently and that I should seek medical help. I saw this as ignorant animal magnetism. I was also informed by the personnel of the National Youth Corp that as a ward of the government, I had to be treated at a hospital and get a doctor’s report in order to be absent from my duties.

I had to deal with fear. I held on to the Daily Prayer. As the week progressed and I worked with a family member who is a practitioner, I seemed to be on a seesaw, feeling well for a few hours and then feeling unwell. I was helped by the fact that a number of testimonies in church on Wednesday had been about healings of similar symptoms.

As I prayed, it became clear that I should request help from another practitioner. I sent an email to a practitioner in another country in the middle of the night. When the practitioner received my email, he immediately accepted the case, despite the unusual circumstances.

In the night, I exhibited symptoms of delirium. Because I was a ward of the state, I was unable to make my own decision regarding healthcare. The law required that I be taken to hospital. I recall the doctor who saw me asking me about the symptoms I was experiencing. I just could not affirm to him that I was ill. He took my silence to be confirmation of extreme delirium. He ordered tests to be run and insisted that I be admitted for observation. His diagnosis was acute malaria, typhoid, anemia, and dehydration.

My mom mentioned that no medical treatment had been given. The doctor was not pleased. Before the results of the tests came back, he administered one treatment, after which I refused all the medications (even those they said were just vitamins).

When the tests came back, the results were perplexing to the doctors. They showed traces, not of the initial diagnosis for which the treatment had been given, but of what they termed black-water fever. As this was considered a dangerous ailment, the medical conclusion was that I must have received treatment prior to coming to the hospital. (They were right. But it was Christian Science treatment!)

The doctors kept me under observation for two days, but all their measurements showed I was well. So I was discharged. There was a sense of relapse a few weeks later, but the practitioner continued to work for me at my request. I knew I had to be healed of fear, as well as of the belief that a diagnosis can give error reality. I was then fully healed and have remained entirely well.

I learnt about the operation of divine Principle, which is what the practitioner asked me to observe, while the medics believed they were observing man.

I am grateful that Christian Science healing is real, and I am very grateful for the lessons I learned in Christian Science class instruction last year.