{"id":1456,"date":"2012-10-19T12:08:25","date_gmt":"2012-10-19T16:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayspirituality\/?p=1456"},"modified":"2016-10-19T08:32:14","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T12:32:14","slug":"dont-sit-on-the-same-step-move-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/2012\/10\/dont-sit-on-the-same-step-move-up.html","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Sit on the Same Step&#8211;Move Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When realizing I could feel God\u2019s love for me more than I could feel the pain racking my jaw, the pain diminished. My jaw was messed up due to a previous accident. Prayer helped but the problem persisted. I\u2019d asked a few dentists if they could fix my jaw. Most of them were honest and said no. And, I didn\u2019t take up the offer from the dentist who was willing to experiment on me with a procedure that might help. So, I was careful with my jaw for years. The joke is: I eat so slow that by time I\u2019m done eating breakfast it\u2019s time for lunch. Thankfully, the pain never overwhelmed the strong feeling I had that God was Love itself and infinite love is manifest through me.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d learned about God, Love, and Love\u2019s healing ability through Christian Science as taught by Mary Baker Eddy. Through my study and practice of this spiritual Science, I\u2019ve experienced wellness and improvement through prayer. And, more healing is to come so I remind myself that my prayer has to be guided by divine Mind, not my, or someone else\u2019s human mind.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been aware of this statement, \u201cIf from any <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/2011\/12\/a-heart-for-the-world.html\">injury<\/a> or from any cause, a Christian Scientist were seized with pain so violent that the Scientist could not mentally treat him or her self\u2014and other Scientists had failed to relieve them\u2014the sufferer can get temporary help. Then, when the belief of pain is quieted, the Scientist can treat his or her own case mentally. In this way we \u2018test everything, hold fast to what is good.\u2019\u201d (<em>21<sup>st<\/sup> Century Science and Health <\/em>with Bible quote from I Thess. 5:21) But, for my jaw pain I never needed temporary pain relievers. The pain would subside after each mental treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, over time, the mental treatment expanded to include the manifestation of not only a proper working jaw, but a proper working of Christian Science in the world. My attention was riveted on this directive from <em>Science and Health, <\/em>\u201cDo not judge the future advancement of Christian Science by the steps already taken, unless you yourself will be condemned for failing to take the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The steps \u201calready taken\u201d didn\u2019t need to pre-occupy my thoughts. I admitted many of the steps\u2014rituals, repeating the same words\u2014were fruitless anyway and my mind opened up to new ideas. Some of the ideas were scary, but in the end they were exhilarating and fruitful. The core project I took up was to revise and update Mary Baker Eddy\u2019s <em>Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.<\/em>\u00a0 The project is still a work in progress but when did my jaw heal? I can only vaguely pinpoint a time in history. The relief was secondary to the gratitude I feel as I participate in the global sense of wellness and spiritual Science or knowledge that is alive today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When realizing I could feel God\u2019s love for me more than I could feel the pain racking my jaw, the pain diminished. My jaw was messed up due to a previous accident. Prayer helped but the problem persisted. I\u2019d asked a few dentists if they could fix my jaw. Most of them were honest and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5,8],"tags":[660,662,659,661],"class_list":["post-1456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community_world","category-christian-science","category-religion","tag-cracked-jaw","tag-eat-slow","tag-picture-of-steps","tag-safe-pain-relief"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Don&#039;t Sit on the Same Step-Move Up - Everyday Spirituality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/2012\/10\/dont-sit-on-the-same-step-move-up.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don&#039;t Sit on the Same Step-Move Up - Everyday Spirituality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When realizing I could feel God\u2019s love for me more than I could feel the pain racking my jaw, the pain diminished. 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