"It left me … as though it never happened"
/I am not sure I would say that I had a change in attitude or view after having read (or reread) the book. However, I would say that I had the feeling of coming home. I was surprisingly impressed with the introductions and comments by the editors throughout the book. I read them as carefully as I did the healings, and they made Christian Science again feel wonderful, clear, natural, sound, and most of all radiant with love – all the things I associate with home.
This is a question I imagine everyone loves to answer. I read this book when I was in my teens, (now in my fifth decade) and while many of the healings made (and still make) quite an impression on me, the one beginning on page 84 tells of a woman most wretched – a drunk, a smoker, penniless, and owned nothing save a “pot of beer and the rags in which I was clad.” Her husband had beaten her and left her, and she had health issues. When a practitioner came to her door (for some reason) and discovered her condition, she told her, “...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.” The woman was completely and instantly healed of every problem. And not only that, but her husband, 20 miles away, was healed “at the same time and as quickly as myself, and his character was also instantly reformed.” They went on to live a happy life together.
Now the words of this unnamed practitioner can be words almost any Christian might say to comfort and bolster his fellow man. Those words can also sound empty and unable to meet so great a need. But they had utterly the opposite effect in this case. Those words had so much divine Love, so clear an understanding of God, so perfect an understanding of spiritual man, that they could do nothing but heal immediately and effectively ALL upon whom her thought rested.
The other healing that meant a great deal to me at this reading was found on the bottom of page 43. At 13 years old this testifier was “snatched from the tender care of kind parents, from brother and sister, taken away from all trace of civilization and plunged into an Indian camp, a helpless captive among savages in whom no element of the cruel and revolting seemed lacking.” After being rescued, growing up, marrying and having children, she found herself again captive to physical issues stemming from those early days in the Indian camp. She became confined to her bed with no hope of recovery. After finding Christian Science and complete healing, she went on to share Christianity with the Native Americans (some of her former captors) and heal many of them. Now, that alone is impressive. But I had the idea to Google her name and found that she had written a book on her trials as a captive and oh! they were far more horrific and disturbing than I could ever have imagined. So, for her to forgive and love and heal these Indians was so profound to me that I could hardly stop thinking about it. In the third printing of her book, History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, she adds this wonderful appendix: “In 1889 my attention was attracted to the ‘works’ of Christian Science, and after many long years in which I had suffered more than language can express – the result of this terrible experience with the Indians I was healed by this demonstrable religion. Christian Science is the key that unlocks the mystery to anyone’s satisfaction, who will accept its teachings, the so-called miracles recorded in the Bible. Science and Health, by Mary Baker Eddy, has proven beyond question the revelation of a demonstrable Truth, hence holy (whole) like the body of our Lord and Savior, and the seamless robe he wore. Nothing has so appealed to the human mind willing to investigate it, as being the absolute and universal Truth, as this Metaphysical Study, called by its Revelator, Christian Science, for it is all and everything to those who understand. There is not one burden in life’s pathway that may not be lifted, not one sorrow-ladened or sin-burdened creature that may not be helped into the light that lighteth every man in darkness; not one suffering invalid whose pains may not be relieved by its sweet ministry. ‘Whosoever will, let him take of the waters of life freely.’ “
These words were written not to the Christian Science Sentinel audience wherein her testimony appeared, but to the readers of her book. And, after having read such an honest account of her difficult experience – who would not take this appendix seriously?
I have never written this healing down until now. It was my first healing, all by myself (no help from parent or practitioner). Up until the age of seven, I would often be found with my thumb in my mouth. I have a memory of my mom putting something foul-tasting on it to deter this habit, but to no avail! I remember that I made my own decision to address it through prayer, because I didn’t want to do this anymore. I cannot remember any specific prayer, but I do clearly remember some things. I only prayed in the evening when I had just gone to bed. I remember that I expected a healing and that my prayers were very general, not specific. I just tried to understand simple truths. The garage door to our home was around the back of the house, and my upstairs bedroom was the closet room to the garage. If my parents were out and came home, the headlights of the car would shine through my window, and I knew they were home! It was a comforting light! I do not remember how long I had been praying, over how many nights, but one evening, my whole room lit up – and my parents had not gone out that night. At that moment I was healed. I never had a single urge to suck my thumb again. It left me and my whole thought as though it never happened.
I would like to add a recent experience. Before I went through class, I bought a small blank book to record my notes in during the two weeks. I took a few notes during class and then went to where I was staying and wrote them out in this little book. Halfway through class we had to turn them in to the teacher! I was a bit nervous to say the least! But it was returned with a note that I will cherish forever. He ended it with these words, “The notes have a wonderful wholeness and accuracy and freedom.” I taped that note into the book. Eight years ago, I lost that precious book. I searched diligently everywhere, over and over again. I remember taking it to Association one year and thought maybe I had left it somewhere. Every time I thought about it over the years, I would berate myself, become angry and sad. It was so disheartening to me that I spoke about it to no one. I did offer a few prayers over the years, but I just couldn’t get past the anger at myself. Then during this recent time of quarantine, I found myself with time to do some organizing. As I was going through a closet, examining every scrap of paper, I came across this note: “Grace is not only the Love that makes us go; it is the Love that will not let us go.” I don’t know where it is from or who to attribute it to, but immediately I thought about my class book and that fact that God never let me nor anything of spiritual importance to me out of His thought. It was as if (as in my above testimony) it had never happened. I was free from the anger and self-condemnation. I felt loved. And within a few minutes I opened a zippered folder to find my book. I had cleaned this closet many times over the years. I had looked carefully. But when the selfish thoughts were gone, I saw what was always there.
This wonderful book, A Century of Christian Science Healing, has brought me home to two statements in Science and Health. Mrs. Eddy writes that, “The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, – perfect God and perfect man, – as the basis of thought and demonstration.” (p. 259) And this statement on page 462, “There is nothing difficult in this task, when the way is pointed out; but self-denial, sincerity, Christianity, and persistence alone win the prize, as they usually do in every department of life.” And oh! how clearly the way is pointed out! We are just like these sincere, sometimes extraordinary, sometimes ordinary testifiers in this book. They all loved the Christ, Truth. They understood that it was God, good, that did the work, and we reflect this great power and dominion by working, praying and watching.