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A spiritual uplift that heals without drugs

A Christian Science perspective: Receptivity to God’s infinite love inspires calm; turns us toward healthier, holier pursuits; and brings healing.

  • By Susan Tish

While I was chatting with my college-aged children recently, they expressed concern about the frequency of drug use on campus. Fellow students are taking drugs for everything from helping them to focus on a test, to relieving anxiety, to relaxing. Increasing reports of this issue are a growing concern on college campuses and beyond.

Clearly it is right to seek to address sadness, anxiety, and other challenges that can arise, but does this really need to lead down a path of dependency on drugs in an attempt to find relief?

In my own experience, I have consistently found release from just such problems through the sweet spiritual lift that comes from prayerfully listening for inspiration from God, the ever-conscious divine Mind. As the Bible points out, “In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul” (Psalms 94:19, New King James Version). Divine Mind communicates only goodness and peace to each of us, its own spiritual creation. Fresh, new ideas, infused with hope and faith, fill our thoughts when we turn to God for help. I’ve found that receptivity to God’s infinite love uplifts my thoughts and actions. This inspires calm; turns me toward healthier, holier pursuits; and brings healing.

There was a time several years ago when I was struggling with anxiety attacks during a very difficult period for my family. Many other challenges in my life – whether physical or emotional – had been permanently resolved through prayer, so it felt very natural to take that approach again. Every day seemed a struggle, and I asked a Christian Science practitioner – an individual in the full-time practice of healing through prayer – to pray for me, too.

It wasn’t always easy, but as I turned wholeheartedly to God and listened for the loving insights divine Mind communicates continuously, I found I had the strength and grace I needed every day. I felt a renewed sense of God as Life itself, and I began to feel truly safe and secure. The physical symptoms, such as chest pains and shortness of breath, started to abate and within a few months permanently left.

Not only have I remained completely free of any symptoms of anxiety attacks, but above all, this experience brought spiritual growth and a peace and confidence in God’s care that I had not known before. The family challenges were ultimately resolved harmoniously, and our family is on new, beautiful, and firm ground.

Following in the path Christ Jesus pointed out, Christian healer Mary Baker Eddy, the Monitor’s founder, demonstrated through years of experience that turning to God, divine Truth, is a most effective healing agent. She wrote: “The fact that Truth overcomes both disease and sin reassures depressed hope. It imparts a healthy stimulus to the body, and regulates the system. It increases or diminishes the action, as the case may require, better than any drug, alterative, or tonic” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 420).

God, who is all Love, all Truth, knows us to be spiritual, pure, joyful, and cared for. As we come to realize this more and more, we are comforted and inspired in ways that bring permanent peace and healing to our thoughts and lives.

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Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

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