"…every conceivable problem and opposition has been healed"
/If there was one word to sum up the character of the Christian Scientists that relayed their testimonies in “A Century of Christian Science Healing,” it would be grit. There was an indomitable spirit that just didn’t quit. How much I needed to read and hear about how they persisted no matter what the odds, in the face of opposition of all kinds.
I don’t feel that the book changed my view of Christian Science healing. If anything, it reminded me that Christian Scientists have faced down resistance of all forms, and the resistance is not greater today than it was then. It encouraged me and gave me strength to persist.
One testimony that stood out to me was that of Cleo N. Lawrence from a radio program on “How Christian Science Heals.” (pgs. 222-225) This man saw so many things wrong in the world that he had become an atheist. After trying several different faiths and philosophies he never could feel that any one of them was the truth. His wife was a Christian Scientist, but he didn’t accept her views and often argued with her.
After injuring a vertebrae in his back, he ended up calling a practitioner and by the third day of treatment was healed. It was inspiring to see how he finally had to grapple with the concept of matter and yield to Spirit, God, as all. He said, “To accept matter into our thinking as real is to surrender our thinking to material limitations, material impositions, and laws.
“I saw that when we accept into our thinking the real import of God’s infinitude, God’s ever-presence – and consequently when I recognize that I am the expression of God’s selfhood and have no other identity – this rules out materialistic thinking and the discords it imposes on the physical body.”
Another testimony that stands out was that of Sarah Ellen Walker. (pgs. 84-86) Both she and her husband were drunkards, and he sometimes beat her when he was under the influence. He ended up leaving her, and everyone in her life, friends and relatives, turned their backs on her. It wasn’t until a woman, a Christian Science practitioner, knocked at her door. The woman shared her story of woe. The practitioner’s words changed her life. She said, “But God cares for you, and I care for you. God is your Father and your Mother, and He loves you just as He loves us all. He supplies all your needs and gives you health and happiness.” After that all craving for alcohol ceased. She was healed. What was even more wonderful is that her husband was healed at the same time. He returned home and their entire home life was changed.
This total restoration of harmony reminds me of what it says in the Bible, “I will restore unto thee the years that the locust hath eaten.” No one was left out of this healing, and everything right and needful was restored.
A healing that I hadn’t thought about for some time is my grandmother’s healing of epilepsy. As a young woman in her early 30s and expecting her first child, she was diagnosed with epilepsy. She told me that one time when she was boiling water on the stove, she experienced a seizure and poured the water all over herself. The burns were severe, and she and the unborn child were not expected to live.
A neighbor, who lived in the same building, brought her a copy of Science and Health and told her that she could have a healing. My grandmother was familiar with Christian Science because her grandmother had taken her to Sunday school on occasion when she was a child.
My grandmother began reading the textbook and also called upon a Christian Science practitioner for help. She said that the healing did not come quickly; she had to work at it. She said that there were many times that she would be standing at the top of a flight of stairs and have a seizure, but she was always protected and never fell. With the continual support of the practitioner the seizures stopped, she delivered a healthy baby girl, and eventually all evidence of burns on her body disappeared. My grandmother lived well into her 90s relying on solely on Christian Science healing for all her needs.
After our reading assignment, I realize that every conceivable problem and opposition has been healed. I am more determined to be a practitioner rather than a patient! While we certainly can and should call a practitioner for assistance when we need to, I see the necessity of working through our challenges and learning to trust our prayers, knowing that we have a direct link to God and that he is always speaking to us. That quality of grit, tempered with great love and humility, stands out as an essential characteristic of a true Christian Scientist.