Healed of migraines

I have experienced a number of healings through my study of Christian Science. I’m particularly grateful for the instantaneous nature of the following healing, which has been a beacon in my continuing study.

One day when I was pregnant with our third child, I had a very bad migraine. I’d had migraine headaches before, and they would sometimes last for a couple of days. I would always pray about them, as I’d learned to do in Christian Science, and with rest I would find some relief. But this time I didn’t have time to “nurse” a headache. I had a lot to do around the house, and despite the discomfort, I didn’t want to let this interfere with what I felt was right to be doing at that moment for my family. So I was determined to pray as I worked, despite the discomfort of moving around.

I began by refuting aloud each wave of discomfort. I understood that I was God’s image, and the image of something could only consist of what it “images forth.” God did not include a headache, because God is good and His/Her creation consists only of good. That is what is implied in the first chapter of Genesis where it states, “God created man in his own image” (Gen. 1:27) and, “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). If God consists only of good, so does His image. These ideas helped me remain firm in my conviction that I couldn’t even be susceptible to having a headache. I denied that my body could dictate to me and instead acknowledged that God gave me dominion.

As I prayed, the pain lessened, and I completed my tasks. Since I had a little time before I needed to pick up my children, I paused to focus totally on what God was telling me. In those moments, my thought was flooded with a gentle, yet overpowering illumination. This light was unlike artificially generated light or even natural sunlight. To me, it was a radiant, boundless, joyful, vibrant, energetic, active, and overflowing omnipresence. During this moment, I was never conscious of my head, or body, or time.

The next thing I was aware of was that I was completely free of the migraine. It was gone. I felt tangibly that light was the nature of my being, and I knew God, the source of that light, was right there with me. More than that, I felt I perceived the spiritual fact that being isn’t material but spiritual, entirely made up of the light that is God. God’s image is not in matter, and matter is not in God’s image.

In thinking about headaches as “darkness,” I understood better this statement in Science and Health: “Light extinguishes the darkness, and the Scripture declares that there is ‘no night there.’ … To infinite Spirit there is no matter,—all is Spirit, divine Principle and its idea” (Science and Health, pp. 474–475).

In the years since this healing, I have not experienced another migraine. I’ve looked back at this healing in the intervening years when praying about other situations and known with solid conviction that the ever-present light and nature of God permeates being. We all are indeed “the children of light” because God’s radiance embraces all.

Ann Coddington White | Rockville, Maryland, US