I recently had a healing that was unlike anything I’ve experienced so far in my journey with Christian Science. It was a healing where divine Love illumined my thought and took me into that secret place of the Most High.

One morning, I woke up with what appeared to be a sprained thumb. I was unable to move it without excruciating pain. It was my right hand, so it was extremely difficult to do ordinary things like getting dressed, taking a shower, and feeding my cats. I called my practitioner to begin working with me.

At the time, I was struggling with grief from the recent loss of my husband. Any sense of happiness was covered up with sadness and longing to experience all that my husband and I had shared. The fact that I didn’t have my husband to help me do even simple things compounded the situation, making it feel like a perfect storm of malicious animal magnetism.

Although I was working with the practitioner and studying references from Science and Health, the first few days were very painful and discouraging. I was, however, able to find practical ways to make things easier, such as wearing dresses instead of pants. Wearing a thumb brace helped stabilize the thumb and reduced the pain I was feeling.

After struggling for four days, my hand was still very swollen and painful. That night, I used DoorDash to deliver food to my home. As my Dasher was getting out of his car, I noticed that he used an arm brace to help him walk. I went down my front steps to meet him, so he would not have to struggle up to the door. When I met him, there was light radiating from his eyes. He said, “Pay no attention to this brace, because I do not let it stop me from doing my job and delivering great service to my customers.”

In that moment, I felt divine Love meet me right where I was. I felt as if God was telling me, “Pay no attention to this error that you see before you, whether it’s physical or emotional. Do not let it stop you from doing My work.”

Tears started to pour down my face as I experienced God’s message coming through this man. He immediately recognized my need for something more than food and began to share his story. He told me how God had saved him from a seven-month coma and then helped him to walk after being in a wheelchair for two years. His medical doctors had first told him that he would not live, and then that he would not walk. He concluded by saying, “We must never lose our hope in God, even if we lose our faith.”

As my tears continued to fall, I told him how much I needed to hear his story. When I asked him his name, he replied, “Angel—do you know what that means? Messenger from God.” I told him that was exactly what I was hearing.

My encounter with this stranger was a divine moment. God’s Love shined right through him and I was illumined with Life, Truth, and Love. The Truth instantly set me free from the hold of animal magnetism, and I knew that the pain and emotional grief I was experiencing had no power over me. The only place I was dwelling was in God—I was living and moving and having my being in Him.

As I said goodbye to the man, I realized that my joy had been restored and my grief was healed. I knew that my healing was complete, even if it wasn’t yet fully demonstrated. The best way to describe my experience is from Science and Health: “Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action. Love is priestess at the altar of Truth. Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept. Patience must ‘have her perfect work’”

(Science and Health, 454:18).

It was amazing to see how quickly the physical symptoms fell away once my thought was uplifted by the Truth. The swelling of my hand came down and I no longer needed the brace. By the third day, I was completely free and using my hand normally for all things.

I am so grateful for this experience, because it made me turn to God and recognize His still small voice. Without having to walk through this valley, I would not have had the mountaintop experience that healed me in multiple ways.