When I was working in high tech in a leadership role my boss did something I felt was quite unfair to my group. Since I was so angry about it, it seemed prudent to speak to my boss about it so I scheduled an appointment to speak with him for late the next morning – hoping I would have time to cool off before the appointment.
That night, I began to have symptoms of an allergic reaction. This is something that had happened to me several times during the period in my life when I was not practicing Christian Science, but was getting medical care. I had developed some (food?) allergies that were never specifically pinpointed, but which would result in painful and dangerous swelling of my whole body, including my face and throat. When these were treated medically, it took 3-4 days for the symptoms to disappear each time an episode occurred even with the medication.
When the symptoms began this time, as a Christian Scientist, I turned to the healing power of the Christ for relief. At first I was fearful because of my history with this condition and I called a Christian Science Practitioner for prayer support. I don’t remember what she said, but I remember being instantly calm and quite sure of healing.
That night I tried to pray for myself, but really what ended up happening was that I kept rehearsing what I was going to say to my boss. I was still angry and had quite a speech prepared! When I awoke in the morning, my condition was worse and was alarming. I sat calmly on the side of the bed and quietly asked, “God, what do I need to know to stop this problem?” The answer came clear as a person in the room speaking to me. It was, “To stop this reaction, stop reacting.” I was shocked. Was it truly that simple? I skipped breakfast because swallowing was too painful and went to work. I cancelled my appointment with my boss. By that time my physical situation had stabilized.
I spent the time that I had planned to spend yelling at my boss, quietly sitting in my office thinking of things that were good about my boss. Things such as, “He is a nice person. He is a good family man. He stands up for my group when we need someone to represent us. He has served well in the front line when a customer had a complaint.” I thought of as many things as I could that were good about my boss. When I was finished I was calm. I was comfortable. The symptoms had begun to disappear. By lunchtime that day, I was back to normal; there were no further symptoms. It has been many, many years since this healing occurred and I have never had this problem again.