A Story of Healing

The power of belief

I have lived with multiple sclerosis for over 25 years. In 1993 the disease kicked into full gear, ravaging my body and rendering me a quadriplegic within 10 years.

My life and my family's were completely turned upside down and changed forever. I struggled with bouts of illness, feeling as if my body was completely out of control. I had periods of depression and was hospitalized several times. I had toxic medications shot into my veins and my muscles. No matter what we tried, multiple sclerosis did what it wanted to do. As multiple sclerosis continued its rampage through my body, that was indeed my perceived reality.

The bottom line is that I believed in the power of multiple sclerosis. I believed it had the power to destroy my life and the lives of those around me. I believed what the doctors told me, that my body would slowly deteriorate and that multiple sclerosis would eventually take my life. I believed that I was powerless in the face of this illness and got on with adapting and adjusting myself to living with an incurable, debilitating disease.

Inseparably one with Source

However, in the spring of 2005, several things came together, and I decided to dedicate my life to the healing principles developed by Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement. She said, “I was once an emaciated little woman, upon whom relatives and doctors had placed the stamp TB or tuberculosis.”

Soon, however, she realized “that life was of God, that we were inseparably one with the source, and that we inherited health from a divine and perfect father/mother.” So Myrtle “began to live with God, and to talk with God,” and her healing came approximately two years later.

When I decided to follow this idea, I was in many ways dedicating my body to spiritual science because I had no idea what the outcome would be. I made dramatic changes in my daily life and spent extended periods of time in prayer and meditation.

Slowly but surely, a transformation of self began, and my physical health began to stabilize. In the fall of 2005, I finally had the courage to stop taking the weekly injections. Shortly after that, I stopped taking blood pressure medicine.

Allow ourselves to be transformed

Currently, I'm not taking any medication for either the multiple sclerosis or the blood pressure. Eighteen months ago my neurologist told me that the multiple sclerosis was “inactive.” That was the first time in 25 years that the word “inactive” had been used to describe my condition. But I believe that using that word is typical medical pessimism; the truth is, multiple sclerosis no longer exists in my life and no longer has power over me. My blood pressure is also well within normal limits and has been for over two years.

I'm presently healthier and more active than I have been in many, many, many years and am now a prayer chaplain and on the Board of Trustees at Unity Center of Columbia, Mo.

As I reflect on Myrtle's journey, and my own, I see that it is the transformation of self which is the true healing. What restored Myrtle to health, and what restored me to health, was in its simplest form a change of mind.

As Scripture says, we allowed ourselves to “be transformed by the renewing of our mind.” The transformation occurs when we faithfully apply spiritual principles to our lives and allow God to work through us, accepting and expressing God's goodness. It does require patience and faith, but the rewards are a life filled with the abundance of God.