No ‘cycles’ of spiritual womanhood

by Norma Jean Young
from The Christian Science Journal, May 2013

In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy makes a powerful statement: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (p. 494). The power and truth of this statement brought about a permanent healing when I was a young teenager, and helped me grow spiritually.

I was living with my mother and grandmother, and they made plans to go away for the weekend. Normally I would have accompanied them, but since I had a school project to complete by Monday, it seemed best for me to stay home and finish it. My uncle and aunt lived downstairs, so there was no concern about leaving me on my own.

Early Friday evening, I began having severe stomach pains. I had just begun my monthly menstrual cycle, but had never before had any physical pain associated with it. However, recently in school during gym class, I’d overheard some girls talking about cramps and the pain they experienced during these monthly periods and how awful they were, sometimes even incapacitating them for days. I paid no attention—or so I thought.

While attending a Christian Science Sunday School since I was eight, I learned that God created man—and woman—in His own image and likeness (see Genesis 1:26, 27). And most inspiring of all, this man of God’s creating was all and only good. I also learned the importance of guarding thought each day to prevent misconceptions—any thoughts opposite to good—about man and the universe. Mrs. Eddy makes the importance of this plain when she says: “Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sickness, but you have divine authority for denying that necessity and healing the sick” (Science and Health, p. 390).

At first it was difficult to see the unreality of this suggestion, as I could neither walk nor sit because of the pain—but I did manage to lie down on my bed. My aunt and uncle had gone out for the evening so were not available, and since there were no cellphones then, I had no way of contacting them. I thought about calling a Christian Science practitioner, but it hurt too much to move.

I had experienced a number of healings over the years with the help of a Christian Science practitioner and my mother’s prayers, but this was actually the first time I was faced with working out a physical condition without their help. So with all my heart, I turned to God.

Truths I had learned in Sunday School came quickly into consciousness, and I clung to them. Initial fear and anxiety over what to do faded out. Then, what I remember most vividly is the unspeakable feeling of divine Love enfolding and comforting me. I cannot adequately describe it in words, but I felt God right there with me, right where I was lying on my bed, as all-encompassing Love, making itself known to me—letting me know I was the complete and perfect manifestation of that Love.

A deep sense of peace and calm followed. I must have fallen asleep, for when I woke up in my darkened room, it was much later in the night. The pain had vanished—never to return. Divine Love certainly met my human need.

The “never to return” part is most meaningful to me, for never again during 35-plus years of menstrual cycles did I experience any pain or discomfort, or anything other than normal functioning. This was a permanent healing, based on this statement in Science and Health: “A scientific mental method is more sanitary than the use of drugs, and such a mental method produces permanent health” (p. 79).

I also must gratefully add that when the time for what is termed a woman’s “change of life” took place, it was barely noticeable. Not once over the course of a couple of years of this transition did I experience any of the symptoms said to be associated with this change. Again, this was proof to me that Mind maintains its creation in perfect harmony, and the existence and evidence of man as God’s perfect, spiritual manifestation is here and now. Man and woman are the perfect idea of a perfect Creator—and “Nothing can interfere with the harmony of being nor end the existence of man in Science” (Science and Health, p. 427).

These experiences are a clear reminder to me that God is an immediate presence and power, responding to our needs far more quickly and effectively than a cellphone or any other type of human aid ever could. In gratitude and joy, I know that by continuously identifying myself as God’s manifestation and being that manifestation, I am fulfilling the biblical blessing and promise of Jesus’ words, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).

This article was published in the May 2013 issue of The Christian Science Journal. To learn more about this monthly magazine, published online and in print, visit HERE.