In Matthew 10:7, Jesus states that “the kingdom of heaven at hand.”  This instruction from our Master to his disciples is a topic I had been studying specifically for a few weeks.  I was fortunate to find a few very good articles on this topic in past periodicals in our Reading Room (accessed through “Found Volumes”, a computer program.)  Two of these articles were extremely inspiring.  Both entitled “Kingdom of heaven at hand”, one is by Robert Dolling Wells in the Christian Science Journal of December, 1959, and another by C.W. Chadwick in the June, 1905 Journal, page 153.  Chadwick emphasizes that Jesus’ mission was to show that salvation was to come in this present world and the distinguishing feature of that mission was to teach mankind the practical proof of the truth of this concept of “heaven at hand”– here, now.  He taught that heaven was not achieved by a state called death.  Why else would he have come to earth to urge men to “repent” and “believe the gospel”?

These ideas were ringing in my thought when I inadvertently tried to run through a glass door on my way to a tennis match.  After bounding back from the blow to my nose and forehead, and after a few confused thoughts, I regained my sense of “repentance”—changing my thinking—and re-established the “kingdom of heaven at hand”, refusing to accept that this kingdom included injury.  I began the match, but in a couple of games I began to feel neck pain.  My first thought was, “Aren’t you glad you refused to accept the idea of injury in God’s kingdom!”  Within minutes all sensation of discomfort or evidence of injury was gone.  I was very grateful.

H. C.

I had a lovely healing today.  As I was doing a cleaning project in the kitchen, the thought came: “If God didn’t make it, I can’t know it.  If God doesn’t feel it, I can’t feel it.”  I pondered this as I went about my task.  All of a sudden, some steaming water I was using to clean some equipment spewed out over my forearm.  At that moment, the phone rang, and it was my friend with her Wednesday readings she wished to read to me.  Her topic was “Rise up and let the Christ Lead you to the Living God.” She didn’t know of my need, but read me the citations from the Bible and Science and Health, by Mrs. Eddy.  Whole-heartedly agreeing with the presence of the living Christ, and cherishing that earlier message about if God didn’t make it, I can’t know it, I found myself instantly healed of any bad effects from contact with that scalding water.

M.L.

A few summers ago I was moving some debris and rocks out of the creek near our cabin in an effort to clean up an area that had the possibility of damning up. My footing was unsteady and the rocks, slippery wet. In the course of this work I inadvertently dropped a very large rock/boulder on top of my tennis shoe-clad foot. I could feel that something was not right immediately and hobbled off to the side and sat down. In those next few minutes I realized that I had a choice. I could accept this as an accident that had the potential of sidelining me for days, maybe weeks, OR claim my freedom from harm just as Jesus and his disciples did in their healing ministries.

Many times in my life, God’s loving care, direction, and supply have been made apparent in very practical ways. In one short week I was to fly to Denmark to visit with my daughter who was in a school program there. We had already made plans for an active seven-day bicycle trip around that country during her break. You might say I was very motivated to again witness God’s goodness, and fast!

Here are some of the ideas that came to me:
Healing as Jesus healed is demonstrable today, and he expected us to follow his example:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:12-14)

“And these signs shall follow them that believe”…(Mark 16:17)

Jesus was never impressed by sin or overwhelmed by suffering:

“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him… And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” (John 9:1-3,7)

My “problem” was an opportunity to be closer to God:

Rouse ye, rouse ye, face the foe,
Rise to conquer death and sin;
On with Christ to victory go,
O side with God, and win!
(Christian Science Hymnal #296)

Upon removing my shoe, the foot had already started to swell and was turning colors but I knew healing progress was occurring because I felt calm and expectant of good, and although very painful at first, it was now much less so and soon not at all.

In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures on pg. 424,* Mary Baker Eddy states from experience that

“Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.”

And on pg. 397,

“When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, “I am hurt!” Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real. Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine metaphysics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures declare Him to be.”

I continued to listen for “angel” ideas that affirmed God’s all-goodness and worked to shut out any arguments to the contrary. In less than three days my foot was normal in size, almost back to a natural color and I had complete mobility. Consequently I had a lovely bicycle adventure in Denmark, all the sweeter knowing that God’s loving care was my only “rock”!

*To read this quote in context, or more of Science and Health, click here.

LRR

This past Tuesday evening I got up off the couch after watching a couple of TV programs,  and discovered that I couldn’t lift my upper right arm without shooting pain.  I tried moving my arm in different ways and continued to feel either an almost total lack of strength or acute discomfort.  Almost immediately I started to worry about what had caused this,  and also what effect this would have on future activities,  from a tennis match the coming weekend to an overseas fly-fishing trip scheduled for early November.  I wrestled with both the pain and the worry throughout the night.

On Wednesday morning I told my wife that I was having the difficulty, because it was clear that I was favoring my right side.  She asked me to try to raise my arm (I couldn’t, without pain) and turn my wrist and hand to the left, as if I were pouring tea.  I couldn’t do that either, without pain.  My wife told me that the symptoms were just like a condition that she had previously experienced, called “frozen shoulder”,  a condition which had required several months of physical therapy to achieve a return to freedom of motion.

I was determined to deal with the issue by turning to prayer.  I had experienced a healing, through prayer alone, of a similar condition about 5 years before, although it took a number of months to regain freedom of motion.

Later that morning I started to read an issue of the Christian Science Journal.  There was an article* that seemed to address my situation beautifully.  The article used the Biblical story of David and Goliath as a metaphor for conquering the fear of illness (or any other condition posed by mortal mind).  It talked about each of David’s five smooth stones as representing a counter-thought to the challenges of fear and mortal thinking.  Here was some great ammunition for dealing with this physical challenge!  There was another article that talked about the perfection of my spiritual identity that provided additional support for my thinking.

I like to think of God as the power that created the universe—a creation that I find easy to conceive of as unimaginably vast, and the power to create it as infinitely strong.  Coupled with that power are qualities that give meaning to all life:  Love, and Truth, or Justice.  This always builds my confidence that whatever my material condition may appear to be, not only is it unreal and temporal, but as God’s reflection I possess the infinite power to reduce any such false claim to its native nothingness.

I realized that I needed to clearly and consistently establish this understanding of divine power in my consciousness.  I had to be “on patrol” to guard against negative suggestions that kept floating into my thoughts—that the shoulder condition could impede right activity—that a healing could take a long time—etc.  I’ve always found that reminding myself “What is God thinking here?” and continually asking “Is this God’s thought?” tends to keep me on the right track.  So over the next two days I really concentrated on being the metaphorical porter at the door of my thought –a modern day “thought bouncer” whenever negative suggestions seemed to come to mind.

The very next day, Thursday, the shoulder seemed to have improved markedly, and by Friday I was able to resume my full range of normal activities without any evidence of stiffness or pain or inhibited movement.  The change was so quick, and so complete,  that I was truly overwhelmed,  not only with relief and gratitude,   but with a profound appreciation for the incredible power of prayer to God to heal.

*“Inevitable Health”,  Julie Ward,  Christian Science Journal, November 2009
The first stone was the idea that “Disease has no scary name—its only name is nothing”.  The second was “Disease has no place—it’s never on the body, but is merely a suggestion of mortal mind”.

JS

Recently, during a stay at our cabin in the Sierra, I was stacking firewood outside and heard a loud bang.  Looking around to where the sound had come from, I noticed a bird had evidently smacked into one of the cabin windows.  It lay motionless and I exclaimed out loud “Oh No!”

Saying this reminded me of an article that I had read many years ago in the Christian Science Sentinel entitled “Don’t Go Down to the Plain of Oh No”.  The author recalled that in the Bible story of Nehemiah, who is in charge of the work to restore the broken down walls surrounding Jerusalem, that an enemy continually asks him to come down to the plane of Ono to talk.  Nehemiah recognizes that this was a ruse to stop the important work and wisely declines saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? “  This play on words reminded me that I too had important work to do (pray) and declined to go down to the plain of Oh No!

Jesus says in the book of Matthew “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered”.  I reasoned that God must also have all the feathers counted on this little bird too.  I silently vowed to witness in my thinking the unending fact of God’s care for this small but precious idea of His. I refused to allow even a look at the bird, feeling that it would distract me from the work of seeing this bird as God had made and maintained it.

I continued to pray with thoughts that came to me and even stacked a few more pieces of wood, feeling more and more confident that God was the source of this bird’s being.  I did happen to look at some point and noticed that the little guy was now standing upright and moving his head.  Rejoicing in this outward expression of the facts that I was witnessing in my thinking, I looked away again to affirm in my thought that no after effects or side effects could result from God’s constant, seamless care of his creation, which included this bird.  Soon, heading into the cabin, I saw that the bird was no longer there!

L.R.R.

Swimming is an activity I enjoy a great deal.  However, the first time I went swimming this spring, one of my ears stopped up.  This had never happened before, but I didn’t think much about it and assumed it would soon correct itself.  However, for several weeks as I continued to swim the ear continued to be stopped up.  At that point I realized I needed to pray about it.  I affirmed that every function of my body is governed by the one divine Mind, which is God, and thus performs normally and harmoniously.  The principle of God’s harmonious universe provides that an activity that expresses God, such as swimming, can’t result in harm or an abnormal condition.

However, several weeks passed, the ear didn’t clear, and I noticed that a numbness was creeping into my cheek.  At that point several fear-filled questions flooded my consciousness:  What is this?  Why doesn’t it go away?  Will it affect my hearing?

I dealt with these fears by more diligently turning to what I’ve learned about God’s all-good government.  The first chapter of Genesis states that man is made in the image and likeness of God, thus is spiritual and perfect.  Since God is constant, unchanging goodness, I reasoned that I must also be all good, and couldn’t lose that perfection (even if it appeared to be so).  My true spiritual substance as an idea of God could not be affected by any material condition or circumstance, and consistently acknowledging this brought it out in my experience.

As I continued to affirm the truth (as God sees it) about my identity and deny any abnormal condition, my fears left, the ear cleared and did not get stopped up again.   I continue to swim with joy and gratitude!

NH

I have found that Christian Science heals animals as readily as it does people.

Years ago, my elderly cat became quite ill. After praying for some time, and seeing little visible result, I reluctantly took the cat to the vet. He took an X-ray and concluded that something was wrong with her kidneys. He told me that the best thing I could do was to keep the cat well hydrated and gave me some equipment to help do that. I brought the cat home.

After a few days of trying the water treatment, there seemed to be little beneficial effect, so I discontinued it. I decided to redouble my efforts to find a solution through prayer, and asked someone else to pray with me. This prayer led me to see my cat more as a God-created idea than I had considered before. I reasoned that cats express grace, balance, delicacy, and intelligence. Like all of God’s creations, they must be immortal and indestructible, since God cannot create anything unlike himself. Consistent attention to these kinds of thoughts made a huge difference in my outlook, and in my cat’s health. She recovered, and lived at least another year with no recurrence of the problem.

I am very grateful.

CHK

I have occasionally been faced with the symptoms of migraine headache, and turned to spiritual truths for usually quick healings. Last year, however, I felt the symptoms rising during the afternoon but didn’t take the time to turn to God and His perspective of my perfect wholeness as His child. My husband and I were to attend the ballet in a nearby city and I insisted on going, praying half-heartedly on the way. But during the first half of the performance, I had to leave my seat, and at intermission told my husband I couldn’t continue. We left to take the hour-long subway ride home. Once in the train station, deep under the city, I felt even worse — unable to stand upright and nearly overcome with nausea, aching head and bowel discomfort. I dreaded the confinement of the train ride ahead. In desperation, I called my Christian Science teacher by cell phone, even though it was after midnight in her time zone. I was only able to say I was very ill in a subway station and need help. She immediately reminded me firmly that I was never separated from God and His care, right there and right now. All I could do was listen, but I felt somewhat better as she continued to talk. She agreed to continue prayerful support for me. So I hung up the call and we boarded the train. The ride felt interminable (including some unexpected delays). I kept my eyes closed and my thoughts focused on every truth about God and His creation (me) that I could think of. And a steady stream of inspiration did come. By the time we arrived at our home station, I was much better. And within the first few minutes of the car ride home, it was suddenly as if a weight was lifted off my head, and I was completely free of every symptom. I happily told my very-worried husband and he was much relieved — and I very extremely grateful to God and for the instant, loving support of my teacher.

C.O.

The sun has often been used as a symbol of God’s presence and power, both in the Bible and in Mrs. Eddy’s writings. I had an experience about 20 years ago that brought that symbol vividly to life for me. For some weeks, I’d been experiencing unexplained pains in my body, especially the breasts, upper and underarms. And I had found a lump in one breast. The media is so full of information about cancer and its symptoms, that we take it in unwittingly. I became very fearful that these physical signs meant cancer in the breast and/or lymph glands. As a lifelong Christian Scientist, I prayed about this situation as I’d been taught (and had proven many times) and had the prayerful support of a Christian Science practitioner to help me see my true reality as a spiritual child of God, untouched by disease — to see myself as God sees me. But the fear was great.

One night I felt the need to stay up studying my Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings to gain a sense of peace. I was in the guest room with east-facing glass doors. I dozed and woke during the night of study, still experiencing pain and renewed fear. Then toward dawn, as light was starting to fill the sky outside the room, I thought of the image of God as the life-giving, all-encompassing “sun” of my being. And as the light increased, I was suddenly struck with the absolute inevitability of that sunrise — nothing could stop that sun from coming up and filling my world with light, just as nothing could stop God’s presence and all-power from maintaining me as He created me: “pure, upright, whole and free” as it says in one of our hymns. That was the turning point: the fear was gone and within a few days, all the symptoms were gone, along with the lump. The peace and inspiration of that dawn time is described beautifully in #317 in the Christian Science Hymnal. One verse reads: “So shall it ever be in the bright morning, when hearts awaking see the shadows flee. O, in that hour, and fairer than the dawning, rises the glorious thought, I am with Thee.”

C. O.

After arriving at a large airport terminal where I was to meet my sister I gathered my luggage. One piece had been set aside as it must have arrived on an earlier flight. Finally getting all together I looked for my sister arriving on another flight. Not seeing her I called her on my cell phone. Shortly we happily met and went to another level of the airport for lunch. As I reached for my bag that contained my money, credit cards, driver’s license, ID, jewelry, in fact everything except my cell phone, it was gone. I mentally retraced my steps and then physically retraced my steps asking the woman at the luggage center and she assured me I had had the bag when talking to her. I talked to the Customer Service desk, Lost and Found and airlines desk I was greeted with lots of negative suggestions. One woman said.” Oh, purse snatchers”. I remembered asking directions from various people. Could they have surreptiously taken my bag? I began looking with suspicion on everyone I passed. There were three floors in this airport terminal and many people. Fear really crept in as the wedding that weekend that we had all looked forward to would certainly be soured for me and others as I would have to bother with closing accounts, borrowing money, and filing paperwork on lost items and sadness at losing some very precious (to me) jewelry.

Then I woke up! I declared there were no dishonest people in the entire airport. That Love was guiding me to do the right thing. That God was right with us. My sister and I prayed. She had some wonderful citations (helpful passages from the Bible and Science and Health, by Mrs. Eddy) with her and we prayed together. Having my cell phone I called a Christian Science practitioner and left a message for help. I then remembered putting down all the bags to make the earlier cell phone call. This new idea sent me back down two levels and as I went I heard my name called over the public address system. It had been over an hour since I had left that area. As I approached the Customer Service center, tears beginning to well in my eves, I saw a police officer was looking through my bag. He asked for some ID, which I of course did not have. He asked if everything was in the bag and I found everything intact. With a smile he said, “This is way I like to see these problem resolved.” With joy I left another message for the practitioner with my happy news that all was well. No more did I look with suspicion, but with love and appreciation for everyone I passed. What a wonderful beginning that was for a joyous weekend! I thank God for His goodness in opening my eyes.

B.F.