"...God is speaking to her in the way she can understand"

I wanted to share with you a healing that occurred last fall with my daughter. My daughter is not a Christian Scientist and doesn’t want anything to do with it. Then one weekend in September, she and her boyfriend went to visit her grandfather, aunt and cousin. Then I got a call from my sister that my daughter was at the emergency room. She had a terrible headache, had lost feeling in her limbs, lost consciousness, and couldn’t talk.

After some panicked conversations, waiting and prayer, we got word that she had returned to normal. The CT scan didn’t show a stroke or tumor, which they were concerned about. They surmised that because she had a sinus infection, there was just an unusual buildup of pressure in her brain. But they did note she had a brain cyst, which is supposedly a rare birth abnormality you can live with, without incident – or it can grow suddenly and cause serious problems. Sometimes they can remove it; sometimes it is inoperable and fatal. They said that if any of the symptoms returned, she should go to a neurosurgeon and get an MRI.

She went back to school and began to have almost daily headaches, losing consciousness and having memory problems. She scheduled an appointment, but through a series of insurance and doctor delays, we had several weeks to pray about this. We learned so many things through this time, all the while hearing from her that the symptoms were continuing and disrupting her studies. Below are some of the notes I took during this experience. As you will see, one of my worries was that because she didn’t want anything to do with Christian Science, our prayers might not be enough to help her. She did not ask for prayer or want any CS talk; however, during a couple of particularly dark moments, I shared a few Bible verses that she said helped strengthen her.

A few of my notes: God is more powerful than a flimsy belief, a mere dream. I am awake. My daughter is awake. The world is awake. This is NOT happening. That’s not denial, but a refusal to be fooled about my child. I am defending her purity, innocence, joy, freedom, power, dominion, spirituality, perfection, her complete protection and connection to her Father and Mother – not us, but God. He is speaking to her in exactly the way she can understand, just as He does to my husband and me. She is in a full, loving, unending, vibrant relationship with her Father-Mother. She doesn’t need an interpreter. She is manifesting His perfection, love, progress, intelligence, memory, joy, freedom NOW. Truth removes properly whatever is offensive. (Truth, not me.) Truth is unchanging. Truth is all, and ever-present. Truth is omnipotent and irresistible. The illusion has no power. This is a spiritual universe. My daughter is spiritual. 

The headaches and losing consciousness persisted; not being impressed by that took unceasing work. Finally, she got her referral and then the appointment for the MRI, which they hoped would show the cyst in more detail. Preceding and during the MRI, I held onto the Bible verse, “Every good gift and every perfect gift (my daughter) is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” I held on to the idea that there is no shadow, no variableness in this child. “He that formed thee”… formed her. Imaging: she is the image of Mind, Love, Life, Spirit, Soul, Truth. An image is an exact likeness. Nothing can get in between Mind and its manifestation. Nothing can be seen but God.

The symptoms lifted over the next few days while she waited to meet with the doctor…who told her that the MRI showed absolutely nothing. He compared the results of the CT scan with the MRI and couldn’t explain the change. She called us with great joy. She said she knew we were praying. At our very joyful Thanksgiving, we introduced her to the practitioner who had helped us and she thanked her sincerely. No, she is not becoming a church member any time soon, but that wasn’t the object of the prayer. What I realized is that God is speaking to her in the way she can understand. And this is true for every one of us.

"...The importance of leaning on the ‘sustaining infinite'"

In practice I repeatedly see that those who hunger for/are receptive to the Word more naturally seem to shift thinking from things (physical or other challenges) to thoughts. They focus on spiritual growth, draw closer to God and find healing.

A patient’s recent healing illustrates this and taught us both several lessons about the power of God’s Word and the importance of fully (and only) leaning on the “sustaining Infinite.”

Background: a lifelong, working Christian Scientist married to an agnostic who was needing to accompany/care for through her serious cancer challenges, including multiple appointments, surgeries, treatments etc. He had even resigned temporarily as a SS teacher to stay home on weekends and care for her since she resented/felt abandoned by his Sunday morning commitments while she was ill.

Apparently several years earlier he’d had some heart problems and through pressure and fear from her family had turned to medical treatment/surgery for it.  Having worked his way out of the many medical and spiritual challenges from this decision he was quietly clear that he would never go that route again.

He called for CS treatment because l) he had aggressive symptoms/physical evidence of prostate cancer. Never diagnosed but similar to signs his friend with diagnosed case had and all those posters, etc. in doctors’; offices/hospitals when he was accompanying his wife. 2). He yearned to get closer to God through this, and had made the decision that he would only rely on God, and he would not tell his family or others what he was dealing with.

We started with MBE’;s guidance  (SH 123:12-15): “Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas.”;

We looked toward the Bible – and particularly Luke 15 (the prodigal son and his Father), the ways Nehemiah dealt with the many persistent lying suggestions, and Psalm 23 and its spiritual interpretation (especially verses 4-6) for spiritual ideas.  

1. The patient, like the Prodigal Son, had seen the futility of other decisions and had “come to himself” – turning wholeheartedly to seek the Father only for healing  (and yearning to know and serve the Father more, and take practice) and was also seeking to forgive himself for past medical reliance and yearning to feel closer to God. That decisive stand – up front – to seek God only was huge, and like the Prodigal Son, also enabled the patient to accept the Father’s unconditional love and forgiveness, and accept Father’s Genesis 1 gifts (dominion, spiritual identity and sonship – symbolized by father’s gifts to the prodigal – as a spiritual idea including not a single element of error) was a starting point! 

2. Willingness on both our parts to turn things into thoughts and exchange objects (symptoms of sense) for ideas of Soul, enabled us both to “begin rightly” and use as a checkpoint for continuing to seek God and God’s perspective, rather than trying to “fix matter”;  (This contributed greatly to quick healing and ongoing spiritual growth, and for both replaced any burden with a sense of spiritual adventure, sharing what we were learning.)

3. Promise of Psalm 23 that God prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies (aggressive symptoms/suggestions/predictions), and anointed our heads (thoughts) with oil (inspiration, consecration, etc.)  and showed us the outcome we could count on – “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” brought the assurance right in the midst of things.  That initial certainty of full healing and inspiration in the midst was liberating and dissipating the fear within a day or so.

4. Nehemiah’s persistently turning to God and all the specific ways he discerned and dealt with error’s arguments were our instruction too – and we kept returning to them when suggestions of pain or ongoing symptoms would try to distract or disable the work. 

Fear and pain left within a day or two.  Within a week or so, despite the ongoing appearance of symptoms, patient had conviction he was healed and dismissed me because physical no longer held sway or was even in his thought most of the time.  And when symptoms entered thought, he turned immediately back to the books.  But the real clue was his real joy in what he was learning and seeing of God and the way the Bible and textbook were opening up to him. During this time he also received a request for prayerful help from another, and had a healing of long-term challenge with a fellow church member. 

During this time – he also found that some practical help – i.e., the providing by church members of some additional meals for the family which communicated to the wife his church’s support for her and them  (as he doesn’t cook) and was a tangible sign to her of support for her (irrespective of her choices), and a quiet reminder to him that he, too, was supported in his quiet choice (which no one else knew about). Within a few more days, all symptoms vanished, and have remained so. Full healing. (Although one that is being cherised quietly.) What is obvious is the spiritual growth!   He has dedicated more time daily to in-depth study (and cut back a bit on his professional work hours). He has given several testimonies re insights from Bible study. He has continued to take practice cases.  And – he has been able to hold to his view of spiritual reality when thinking of his wife – and she has bounced back beautifully, defying the expectations of her physicians.

This quick healing, and the power of the Word, and lessons learned, has also been inspiring to me, prompting me to listen for other ways to share the Word more in practice.

"...not only eye-opening but the new way to live life"

Another wonderful lesson I’ve learned recently is how to trust our own prayers and God in any given situation. There has been much resolution of problems in my day-to-day experience by both trusting God and trusting that our prayers are being heard. 

Several weeks ago, our car was vandalized not long after we had moved into a new apartment. Taking the car to the local dealership, and then to the police, I learned that about two dozen cars had been targeted in our city the night before. The service advisor said he’d be in touch after our insurance company came out to assess the damages.

At the end of the next day, he called to ask whether we had filed the claim, as the adjuster from the same company had been there about another customer’s car, but not ours. The other car was already being repaired, as our car sat idle. I became quite upset about this, but later had a revelation about how this wasn’t on some standardized human timeline, but was really on God’s time. The work would be done as I trusted Mind’;s governance of the entire situation.

On the third day, I felt led to call the insurance company. The next day I felt led to once again be in touch with them, later that day, the service advisor called to say that the adjuster had come out and approved the repairs. A representative from our insurance company called to say the work would be started immediately and that we could pick up a rental car for the weekend. 

I spent the weekend being grateful for all of the human steps working out harmoniously. A week had now elapsed, but the work was completed and all was done seamlessly by all parties, and I thanked God for getting this done His way, on His time. All I was to do was witness the constant good going on in my experience and to trust God with the details.

This trust toward God with the details in everything going on in the daily life has been not only eye-opening but the new way to live life. Placing the needed trust in God brings about the right results and helps us to see healing in everything around us. I’;m so very grateful for this opportunity to witness more of God’s sweet control in my experience.

A significant healing

I had a healing that was significant this past year while working as a tour guide at The Mother Church. In our department’s morning briefing, we’d addressed a question the public sometimes asks: “What would you do if you broke your leg?”; I was inspired by the examples of healing shared by my fellow guides and hosts, and later that day I was protected myself from a belief of accident.

A group of women from China (who spoke no English) came to see the church. Eagerly, they accepted Chinese translations of “What is Christian Science?” and entered the elevator with another guide. Running over to the elevator, I slipped and fell hard on the marble floor, to the surprise and dismay of the women watching me. While the other guide helped me, I dismissed the accident and went ahead with my duties. I thought to myself, “How could I be hurt here, of all places?” Because being in The Mother Church, and on duty there, has always been so fortifying. Though tempted, I continued to know I couldn’t be hurt. Soon afterward, I needed to bring some books from CSPS. When I returned, walking sprightly up the church steps carrying a box of books, the Chinese women were just leaving. They looked me up and down incredulously, then smiled. They had witnessed Christian Science in action. Within a couple of weeks, any lingering symptoms were gone, and I was stronger for this experience.

"I had a glimpse of an unlimited ocean of love"

The day before Association I was particularly studying the references on testimonies because they are foundational for Christian Science.  Among the references to the false testimony of the material senses and the higher testimony of Truth, I was struck by what Mrs. Eddy learned – when she thought she was in the death valley – that the testimony of material sense is false and that real being is in God, ever-present Love.  When I mistakenly felt I was in the death valley long ago, I was brought out by a great sense of God’s love shown in a Bible verse.  As the Bible was also a theme for this year’s Association, this older testimony seems relevant.

In my twenties I was an international long jumper and competed for Great Britain in the European Championships, the British Commonwealth Games and World Student Games, but a leg injury kept me out of the Olympics.  I came across a passage which said that we cannot demonstrate what we do not understand.  I mistakenly thought I had to throw away all I knew about Christian Science and build it up from scratch, accepting nothing I didn’t understand. That definitely wasn’t a good plan! Material reasoning quickly told me that if Christian Science wasn’t true and there was no God, then cancer could be real, people could be evil, and a range of nightmare scenarios I’d never considered could be possible.

Then I began thinking I’d been doing everything wrong and ‘hidden evil’ in me was coming to the surface to be destroyed.  Over about six months I became increasingly guilty and confused.  I thought I was going mad, and that I was deeply and deliberately evil – and to tell anyone would prove this because it would ‘make it real’. 

Lying in bed one night I felt enormous pressure on the centre of my back as if I was being broken in half and destroyed for being evil.  But then the thought came to me that “neither death nor life… shall be able to separate us from the love of God” (Romans 8:38,39).  The thought that death couldn’t separate me from God’s love and that He would love me even if I were “dead” was an amazing Eureka insight. It was, in effect, a revelation of the Truth, and I had a glimpse of an unlimited ocean of love. UNCONDITIONAL Love. In this context it made no sense at all to think God could destroy me for being evil. The intense pressure vanished instantly, and I was left with a great feeling of peace and love.  It was such a relief to know that I wasn’t evil and everything would be alright.  It was a turning point that broke the mesmerism and led to the gradual replacement of all my false fears and mistaken beliefs.

I see that this sense of God’s unfailing ever-present, all-embracing and all-powerful love, even when we are dead, isn’t a concept that Mrs. Eddy invented.  It’s deeply rooted in this Bible verse from Paul and she built on it and used metaphysical terms to clarify it and bring to light its healing potential.

"Healing while working with the study references for Association 2019"

My Dad lost his hearing completely (as did his father) and emailed me to ask for help. I was studying the references at the time so it was a joy to do the work. He rang (previously impossible) on to say “thank you”, and we had a delightful conversation. He also said if you see an opportunity please share this healing at Association.

I consider it a joint healing with the references.

The second – was my nephew – a bonfire and a Christmas tree. He was too close and got caught in the fire two weeks ago. He was taken to A&E and then transferred to a special burns unit for damage to his face and hands. Prognosis was a week in the burns unit at least and then scars for life. My sister rang my mother and me for support. I reassured her with the story of Hagar – and God heard the voice of the lad.

Having been focused on the Bible and what we learn and know from each account (good questions in that assignment) I was ready. Hagar and also the fiery furnace. The presence of Christ and not even the smell of smoke on them (him).

My nephew spent days in hospital, completely free and no scarring and no sense of drama or having ever been through anything. My sister took him Friday to see the burns unit for an hour follow up – he was sent on his way in three minutes.

God is so very good and so very present – the healing is complete.

“The intelligent, precise, awakening, strengthening, comforting Word of God that heals body and soul”

I’m so grateful for an immediate healing I had several months ago. 

Suddenly, and out of the blue, I was overcome with severe feelings of sorrow, guilt, fear, vulnerability, nausea, and headache. Because of things going on in my family’s life at that moment, including our commitment to serving God and Church, it felt like an attack, like malpractice. I could feel myself going down, and in the midst of vomiting and difficulty breathing, it came really clear to me that I wanted to hear what Mrs. Eddy said about poison. Instantly, my husband found this passage and read it to me:  

“Firm in your allegiance to the reign of universal harmony, go to its rescue. In God’s hour, the powers of earth and hell are proven powerless. The reeling ranks of materia medica, with poisons, nostrums, and knives, are impotent when at war with the omnipotent! Like Elisha, look up, and behold: ‘They that be with us, are more than they that be with them.’ Error is only fermenting, and its heat hissing at the ‘still, small voice’ of Truth; but it can neither silence nor disarm God’s voice. Spiritual wickedness is standing in high places; but, blind to its own fate, it will tumble into the bottomless.”

(Mis. 134:18–29) 

The passage was so perfect, countering every subtle and not-so-subtle thought mortal mind had been throwing at me, so God-given, I drank it in. I took enormous comfort in Elisha’s recognition that “They that be with us, are more than they that be with them.” It reaffirmed my sense of God’s all-power and evil’s non-power. I knew I could stand on this eternal Truth of God’s omnipotence, proven by Elisha and over and over in the Bible and in my life and in the life of so many Christian Science testifiers. It actually felt like “the horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” that his servant saw when he had felt under attack.

Very shortly, I was able to lie down and my husband sat in the room praying silently. The next thing I knew, I was waking up. My breathing had quieted, the fear had left, and within hours, all the symptoms left so that I was able to sleep peacefully that night and go to work the next day.

That’s the spiritual sense of the Bible – it’s the intelligent, precise, awakening, strengthening, comforting Word of God that heals body and soul, that aligns us with the Truth of being. I’m so grateful for it, and I owe my life to it.