“I didn’t need to be deterred by physical evidence claiming it could stick around”

A recent healing has meant a great deal to me. It seemed to span over a year and a half, and at various points required some real digging for me to face down fear and discouragement. Association played a big part in the healing—from a practitioner in our Association, to two Association meetings, to an Association assignment, to our website—all places I turned to gain inspiration.

The compilation of testimonies we received a few years ago as part of an Association assignment provided rich proofs of God’s healing power and inspired me to tackle the harder points in my experience. A few months after receiving the compilation, a bump on my shoulder began to feel sore. It quickly got to the point where my arm was partially immobilized. Soon after, the bump and surrounding area became so aggravated that I needed to cover them with a bandage. (I am a Christian Science nurse, so I know how to care for such things.) With the help of a practitioner, the mobility in my arm returned, and I could function normally at work, although I often needed to take it easy with lifting. But the bandaging remained.

Many special points come to thought with this healing. One was the beautiful healing of a growth that was shared at our Association meeting two years ago (and later published in The Christian Science Journal). I loved the courage and steadfastness expressed by that Association member. After that meeting, the painful area on my shoulder began to recede significantly, until there was almost nothing left to cover. The healing seemed so close to completion that I expressed gratitude at my branch church on a Wednesday evening.

But then the problem became more active again. Even though I was discouraged, I still felt courageous because I knew in my heart of hearts that the claim could be healed.

When I was at a fairly low point, I came upon a testimony in a 1974 Christian Science Sentinel, a year that had been mentioned in the “Check It Out” section of our Association website. The testimony describes the step-by-step healing of an infant boy suffering from high fevers. Although the attacks seemed to continue over a two-year period, his mother saw them less and less, until finally they were gone permanently. This testimony was a turning point for me. It helped me see that I didn’t need to be deterred by physical evidence claiming it could stick around or recede and then get aggressive. Instead, I could be assured of a complete healing and be grateful for each step of progress. I would say that the fear largely left me at this time.

One day in early winter, my arm became very sore and the symptoms that required bandaging returned. I recall feeling quite discouraged. I was working with a practitioner and also doing some very specific work for myself. I came upon a testimony in Miscellaneous Writings in the wonderful section “Letters from those Healed” that describes a girl’s healing of poison ivy: “[T]he mother was prompt in denial and assurance. Next morning, old symptoms were out in force, but they yielded at once and finally to the positive and uncompromising hold on Truth” (Mis. 419). I felt as if that had been written just for me. I looked up everything Mrs. Eddy says about “yielding” in Science and Health. My symptoms did yield, and the area didn’t become aggravated to the degree it once had.

From that point on, the healing really progressed. There were longer periods when the area was quiet. A bandage was still needed, but I felt less fearful that the condition would return.

Our last Association meeting, with its focus on the textbook, proved to be another turning point. After that meeting, I read Science and Health from cover to cover. I read a chapter each day, despite full-time work and regular activities. I read without pen or highlighter or notebook in hand. I simply read with a desire of gaining the spirit of the textbook’s impetus and power. I know this reading was central to the healing. Soon afterwards, I discontinued using the bandage, although there was still some evidence that the healing wasn’t complete.

In the months since then, I have felt great freedom. During the summer, I was able to swim a number of times, an activity I hadn’t been able to do the previous summer because of the bandage. There was also a game of paddleball with my cousin when I used my right arm with no trouble. My cousin said I was a “natural,” but I think the freedom expressed was the real “talent” she was observing. By early October, it was no stretch for me to haul compost down the back steps, when before it had been uncomfortable for me to lift any large, heavy thing.

There has been no need for another bandage. The comfort and freedom of the arm have been something to rejoice about.

Hymn 350 (“All, all is well”) includes a line that is special to me: “Perfect is the grace that sealed us.” I turned to that line many times during this healing. It is grace that seals us (even at a shoulder). I have felt much gratitude for this healing in Christian Science and how Association played such a large part in it.