"…how could I doubt that God made me perfect?"

The book helped to remind me of how infinite the possibilities of healing are. It helped to broaden my sense of what it means to put complete trust in God for everything. The testifiers let God take over their lives so to speak. He became the center of what they did and their gratitude for healing was expressed so deeply. I realized that I have to be more immediate in releasing any challenges to God and put absolute trust in Him to take care and guide each step. And I need to be more grateful for what God has given me, which is so much!

I have been learning that analyzing any situation humanly leads to backward steps or no steps at all, resulting in not demonstrating what God is tirelessly giving me. Mrs. Eddy’s Mothers Evening Prayer speaks throughout of this complete trust. One cannot read or sing this beautiful poem without feeling cared for, safe, and forever loved. One of the lines that sums it up is “O Life divine that owns each waiting hour,” and this solidifies there is nothing outside of Him. If He owns every hour, then He is always watching and guarding and showing us everything we need to see as we look to Him. We just have to do it.

I was helping a friend the other day, and the words just came, why would Christ Jesus and Mrs. Eddy share this healing truth with us if they didn’t think we could demonstrate healings ourselves? There would be no point for them to share if we weren’t capable. They knew that it came from God who is all inclusive. And Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do” and “These signs shall follow them that believe.” Mrs. Eddy writes “The teachings and demonstration of Jesus were for all peoples and for all time; not for a privileged class or a restricted period, but for as many as should believe in him.” (Mis. 244:26) These statements are clear and precise. There is no “maybe” others can heal as Jesus did. And understanding that God loves us so much, why wouldn’t He give us all that He has to give?

There are so many wonderful accounts in this book, I feel I could write something about each one! I am so grateful to have been given this assignment as it again establishes the power of Truth to heal anything we are confronted with. The first account that I find especially meaningful is the one on page 136. It tells of a young woman who walked out of the prison camp in broad daylight. She had been studying Science and Health and she came to understand that man as the spiritual image and likeness of God could not be detained in a prison or a camp but he is as “unlimited and unbounded as God.” After leaving the camp, she didn’t have an identity card and in the Third Reich it was absolutely necessary to have it because you were continuously checked on all modes of transportation, but she was never checked. She always had a meal when she needed it. And she was never questioned by anyone. She continued to study the textbook and was finding answers and direction from God. She was cared for by others unexpectedly, and she survived an air raid while continuing to reach out to God as she studied Christian Science. She assisted in helping victims of the air raids and she spoke to them of God being Life and that they reflected this Life. She would talk of God to them until they opened their eyes and then she would go on to the next person in need. In her experience of comforting and helping, she saw that the truth did work, and that she could practice it and prove it. She had another opportunity to escape the chaos but was led by God to stay. By that time, she knew if she heard God’s voice, she would obey it. By staying in the area she was able to provide a home to a cousin and others also. Her home was considered an oasis and full of peace. When the area was attacked by the Russians her home was untouched. The Russians instead brought food and performed dances for her. She saw them as made in God’s image. By this time, she had read Science and Health four times. Afterward, she went to England and joined The Mother Church and had Class Instruction.

This account is so meaningful to me because she never turned away from God no matter how difficult her situation seemed to be. She knew He was with her every moment. She didn’t look to her human self to try and figure out what she should do, she focused only on God. She was not afraid because of her deep trust in Him. And the fact that she was new to Science is outstanding! She had a childlike trust all along. She was so young and never had a doubt that God would take care of her and lead her in the right direction. She had no human parent to guide her, but she had God. He gave her the strength and courage to be selfless throughout her entire experience. She put others before herself continually. Because she loved, she was healing people before she completely understood Science!

The second account I chose was the healing on page 162. It speaks of a woman whose son was serving in the war in Poland. He had an accident and his life was in danger. Doctors predicted he did not have much time to live. His mother asked the doctors if she could give him Christian Science treatment. They made a room available for her to pray for her son. Progress was made, but the doctors told the mother not to rejoice too early. The son had a broken/shortened leg and and injured arm, his jawbone and nose were broken. He had a fracture of the skull and a serious concussion which the doctors concluded would lead to insanity. On Christmas Day the son recognized his mother and was able to walk on crutches. The doctors credited the son’s progress to the mother’s faith because their human ability had come to an end. None of the claims the doctors put on the son were apparent. He had a complete healing.

This account is meaningful to me because the mother was fearless. She wasn’t impressed by what the doctors were telling her; she just got right to work. Her immediacy in declaring what was true about her son was unquestionable. It was solid knowing. She steadfastly relied on God to take care of her son. She expressed no doubts that he would recover completely. She never gave up her trust in God.

One Sunday about 12 years ago, as I was driving to church to teach Sunday School, I was hit head on by a drunk driver. I was waiting at a traffic light and the other car made a right turn, crossing lanes, and crashed into my car. I was struggling with pain in my arm and I had difficulty moving it, so I decided to be quiet for a bit before getting out of the car. I knew God was with both the other driver and me, and we were safe. I called my friend, a Christian Science practitioner, to pray for me and come and pick me up, for my car was totaled and not drivable. I was slow getting out of my car but thought I should check on the other driver. He hadn’t attempted to get out of his car. I went to his window, and he was fine. He told me he was trying to reach 60 miles per hour while turning the corner but didn’t quite make it. I could smell alcohol, and I knew he wasn’t in his right mind. He begged me not to call the police for he had many previous tickets and warnings for the drinking issue, and he didn’t want his license suspended. I told him plainly that I couldn’t follow his wishes and allow him the opportunity to hurt himself or anyone else.

I have to mention that God sent an angel to my side. A man who was in his vehicle behind me got out of his car and stood by my driver’s-side window the entire time encouraging me and expressing much love. He witnessed the entire accident and wanted to tell his story to the police. When the police arrived, they questioned me, “Where were you headed?” I said, “I was on my way to church to teach Sunday school.” The officer shook his head and smiled, turning to the other officer, “Well, she is not the problem. We can certainly let her go!” Soon my friend arrived, and she was so loving and supportive. She brought a beautiful sense of calmness to the situation. I felt loved and cared for. She asked me if I wanted to go home. I told her I really wanted to teach Sunday school. So she took me to church. I was still having difficulty with my arm, but I felt I should go forward and teach. My friend shared the incident with a few on the Sunday school staff and they were very loving to me and prepared to fill in for me if needed.

I went to my class and sat down. Each week I asked my students to share any healings they may have had or witnessed others having, or if they healed someone themselves. I had a class of three teenage boys. (They were unaware of what I was working through.) When I asked my weekly question about healing, one boy spoke up and said he had a healing of his arm. He was at camp rafting in a big inner tube. The water he was in was so rough that it flipped him out of the inner tube and his arm was stuck in the tube as he flipped. He was dealing with a lot of pain after he recovered. He went on to explain about how he prayed for himself. It was a beautiful healing, and he felt no pain in his arm after realizing his true likeness to God. I was so immersed in his account that I had a complete healing right there in Sunday school! The pain just vanished!

The following week I was so grateful to be able to share my healing with the class and how my student contributed to my healing without even realizing it. This brought a wonderful lesson home to all of us. One may not know how or who a healing is going to help, but it is so important to share it because it always touches someone. We also spoke of the importance of our gratitude to God for taking care of us. I am so grateful for this healing. It also motivated the boys to be more open to opportunities for healing. This resulted in them enthusiastically sharing more healings in Sunday school! I will be more immediate with knowing God’s control is what governs. I am going to daily reach out to God for divine guidance in everything I do.

I will be more aware of not making a move until God makes His. I will listen better and discern whether the human mind or the divine Mind is leading me. I will keep yearning to love more and think less of self. I will be more watchful and continue working at handling animal magnetism. I am going to keep focused on what is to be done to glorify God the most and to share what I am learning as God guides me.

I woke up a few days ago with what appeared to be a serious cold. The afternoon prior I had difficulty breathing. I didn’t give much attention to it, but when it would come up, I worked with a line from Hymn 175 in the Christian Science Hymnal, “Girt with the love of God on every side, I breathe that love as heaven’s own healing air.” The straining to breath would subside and then return, but I kept knowing my life is in God. When confronted with the cold the next morning I started thinking about next steps (human) because of the pandemic warnings in the news that if we feel ill, we must go home. (My work is in caregiving, and going home was not an option). I began to realize I needed to take my focus off of outlining and planning next steps humanly. So I turned to God, and as I started to get out of bed, I knew the cold wasn’t of God and so it couldn’t be. I didn’t spend a lot of time working about it but I felt firm in knowing God was caring for me and I didn’t have to let the cold run its course or play out over the next few days. It wasn’t true, and I wasn’t going to believe it. At that point I went about my day and the belief completely disappeared. It was a very short time. The breathing difficulty also vanished.

A few months ago, I was preparing to leave for work, and I bumped my toes on the foot of my bed. The pain was pretty extreme, but I decided not to take my sock off to look at the foot but to work about it as I continued to get ready to leave. I could barely walk but I kept going knowing that God was leading me. I could feel no pain after that, and I managed to put my luggage in the car and complete other essential tasks before driving an hour and 45 minutes to work. When I arrived, I was unable to stand let alone walk to my charge’s home. I was also struggling from a pre-existing condition on the other foot and the pain seemed much worse than before. So there I was, seemingly stuck sitting in my car and unable to walk. At that point, I called a Christian Science practitioner and she gave me much encouragement and support. She suggested that if I needed the extra help, I could call on the concierge of my charge’s building to assist me.

I then recalled the staff of the building had repeatedly noticed the preexisting condition and questioned why I hadn’t seen a doctor. They kindly made suggestions that I should “have it taken care of.” I knew then, that I had to get upstairs without assistance. I realized I needed to walk as normally as possible so as not to draw attention to this additional problem. I called the practitioner back, and she assured me that I could walk because I was walking with God. So I stood up and carefully unloaded my luggage then I began to walk. It was very difficult, but I kept knowing that God was with me, and if I was walking with God, I could walk normally. I leaned on the luggage a little and continued on. When I reached my charge’s apartment the pain completely disappeared. I was so grateful for God’s care of me!

That night when I was preparing to go to bed, I took my sock off. It appeared that a toe had been broken, but I felt no pain. During the night, I had a little discomfort but by morning the pain ceased. I was able to walk normally and no one on the staff noticed that I had experienced difficulty. Even the preexisting condition improved.

A couple weeks later, a member of the staff exclaimed, “Hey, your foot is back to normal!” I am so grateful for God’s ever-presence.

I’ve carried a heavy burden for many years related to difficulties from my childhood and the need to leave my family and my husband in order to be free of imposed oppression. Since my move away from family, I have witnessed many wonderful healings and experienced many of my own, in addition to taking cases on occasion. Through all the wonderful progress in my life, I was still carrying guilt and feeling that I could have done more to assure my family that I had made a right decision. Due to carrying this false sense of responsibility, I put on quite a bit of weight and found myself falling into depression on a regular basis. I also condemned myself constantly for many things. I couldn’t seem to get out of that feeling of somehow failing my family, even though it was very clear to me that God lifted me out and saved me from a life that would not have been progressive. And I would not have been allowed to be who God made me to be.

One day, as I was doing my daily metaphysical work, it came to me that I had to stop condemning myself. God made me and how could I doubt that God made me perfect? Because I was putting myself down, it also meant that I was putting God down. I knew this had to stop. I made a concentrated effort to stop thinking less of myself and decided to see myself as God’s beloved child. I finally overcame the self condemnation. A friend commented that she hadn’t heard me put myself down in a long time, and she was pleased that I had stopped.

The next step was to release the burden, which just happened this past month. Hymn 124 in the Christian Science Hymnal has also been a great help, and it is a perfect guide to putting complete trust in God. “Come cast your burdens on the Lord and trust His constant care.” And the last verse is, “I drop my burden at His feet and bear a song away.” I was able to see that the burden wasn’t mine and that God was bearing it so I didn’t have to. Due to this releasing, I was feeling much more joy and I was actually loving myself because of what God made me to be. Another friend made the comment, “You seemed to have lost a considerable amount of weight.” I haven’t lost any weight physically, but she was picking up a mental shift in my thought.

Since then, I have definitely felt lighter. I can run up and down my stairs, and I am able to take long walks without feeling such heaviness. I continue to feel the “divine energy of Spirit.” I know the physical weight will drop too, because I have to do it God’s way, which is the only way. I also found Hymn 485 very helpful. It speaks of God being the creator, and my Father and Mother, my haven of peace. I am so grateful to know and understand that God is my Father, Mother and “first in my heart.” I love knowing my only responsibility is to glorify Him.