Category: Christian Science

On Wednesday afternoon recently, I was trimming deadheads with a pair of electric grass clippers and accidentally cut into a finger on my left hand. The shock and blood sent me running into the house where my husband cleaned and bandaged the wound. My first thought about this was from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. She writes, “Accidents are unknown to God…” on page 424* and although the complete sentence did not come to me at the time, I reasoned that since God did not know it, I could go back and finish the task at hand, which I did. After dinner, I attended the Christian Science Wednesday night testimony meeting in Orinda. At this service the congregation is invited to pray for all gathered there. I prayed for the health and well-being of all present, acknowledging each one’s relationship to the divine consciousness, Mind. I did not specifically include myself, as by then I had quite forgotten about my finger. When I got home, my husband offered to change the bandage before we went to bed. When the old dressing was removed, we discovered that there was nothing showing but a pink line where the cut had occurred. My heart was filled with gratitude and in a few days nothing remained and it would have been impossible to even find a trace of the cut.

HF

*(The complete sentence in the chapter Christian Science Practice reads: “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’ unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.”)

I would like to tell about a healing that both my daughter and I had recently. My daughter is three and full of wonder. We were just returning from a day in the field attempting to capture an endangered snake. About half way home we hit some traffic on the freeway in San Francisco and my daughter vomited all over herself and the back seat of our rental car. After a moment my thought was calm enough to find a shoulder large enough to pull out of traffic and try to clean up as much of the mess as possible and make my daughter more comfortable.

Once I was back in the car driving a flood of awful thoughts came to me. They started with, “What happened, is this the flu, did she eat something that made her ill?” And to throw in a little parental guilt, “What did I give her to eat and was it fresh?”

Immediately on the heels of these thoughts came the Christ message. “Nothing happened to God’s sweet, perfect idea. She is entirely spiritual, a reflection of God. There is no power that can change that fact. God is omnipotent good, the only power.” Meanwhile my daughter went back to sleep and the Christ message continued: “There is no cause or source outside of God, so the only thing that she can have is infinite, eternal good. You can’t have done anything wrong because you are God’s reflection too and your motives are pure, intending only good for your daughter.” At that point I just firmly declared my daughter’s identity as God’s entirely spiritual child. And I knew this was effective prayer. I felt satisfied that because Truth was the source of my declaration, suggestions to the contrary had no substance or foundation to sustain them. With that I let go of the fear for my daughter’s well being. However, aggressive mental suggestions continued to badger me, trying to sneak in and claim to be my own thought. The whole rest of the way home I had the most fun bringing every thought into conformity to the Christ. The suggestions that came to me about possible cause or source became almost laughable. They were just impotent in the face of the Truth shining in my consciousness.

When we got home my daughter woke up, got out of the car, vomited once more on the sidewalk and was done with it. I gave her a bath and by the end of it she was playing like nothing had ever happened.

What an exhilarating experience this was for me! To feel God’s presence so effective and constant was marvelous and I wish I had words to convey my gratitude to God for this experience. I guess my greatest expression of gratitude would be to continue being conscious of the Truth and witnessing every thought being brought into conformity with the Christ, following with not just words, but deeds. I am also grateful to every practitioner I have ever spoken with, for every Sentinel, Journal, and Sentinel Radio article or conversation I have read or heard, for all of Mrs. Eddy’s writings, and for the Bible. I feel like what I am learning from all of these sources has led me to an understanding that allowed this healing experience.

W.D.

I’ve lived in Northern California for almost twenty-five years, and when the month of May arrives, allergies have been a struggle for me. Sometimes it has been worse than others, but always a struggle. I have had so many physical healings through the application of truths I’ve found Christian Science, but somehow this seemed in another category. I used to think I just had to get through it, for once June came, I was pretty free.

This past May was no exception, and in the first week I found myself sneezing and wheezing unmercifully. I am a school teacher, and one day I could hardly get through a complete sentence without sneezing multiple times and, of course, blowing my nose. My students felt so sorry for me. I went to a meeting after school, and they finally adjourned it early in sympathy for the pathetic state I was in. Several well-meaning colleagues offered me Claritin, a popular allergy medicine. That kind of caught my attention, not because I wanted the Claritin, but because I wasn’t using my form of medicine, which is prayer.

I got in the car to go home, and in desperation for something to help me think better, I pulled out a Christian Science Sentinel Radio program CD that someone had given me. I hadn’t listened to it, despite having had it for months, but I was delighted to find a remarkable healing of allergies as one of the four healings given. The speaker voiced the very same thing I had been thinking, that somehow this allergy problem was outside the realm of possibility to be healed. She said,  “I just thought I had to put up with it,” and then she talked about something that I found very interesting. To the medical world, there is no real “healing”of allergies; all you can do is manage the symptoms. That is all, for instance, that Claritin could do. She began to see that real healing was possible, for all we are ever working with is “thought”. My thoughts about pollen seemed to induce this reaction. But what was pollen, something outside of God’s love for me, something that could separate me from good, from freedom, from health? I listened to that healing on the CD several times and the light just went on in my thought about the naturalness of healing this belief. I wasn’t changing the body to stop reacting, but I was seeing myself purely spiritually, untouched by the belief of reaction. I was free that night. I listened to the same healing three times again on my way to school the next morning. My thought had completely turned around from the inevitability of this problem every spring, to the absolute insistence in my thought that I was free, that pollen or any atmospheric belief could not separate me from God. And I was free all that day. Once of my students even noted that I wasn’t sneezing any more and what a difference that was. (It had been almost comical the day before). That was it, the rest of the month, not a sneeze. The change was like night and day.

I am so grateful for this change of thought and for this woman’s willingness to share her testimony, as I want now to share mine. There is no physical situation that is outside the realm of healing, of that I am sure.

R.A.

When I was growing up, I had a lot of ear problems. Earaches, infections and hearing loss all troubled me often. I had to wear special ear protection when I was swimming, and at school, I always sat up front because of my “special needs”.

When I started going to the Christian Science Sunday School, I began learning how to say no to error and to “stand porter at the door of thought” (from page 292 of Science and Health.) This meant that I could watch my thinking and reject hurting ears. I was beginning to see that that pain is a lie, a falsity about God’s loving creation. A lie is not real. It doesn’t exist. Learning these things made a huge difference in my life. The constant ear problems stopped.

Then, a little while ago, when my sister had her ears pierced, I decided to get mine pierced too. They were fine for a few days, then one morning I woke up, and when I looked in the mirror, my earlobes were so swollen that so that my earrings were completely hidden. I almost panicked for a split second. Oh not again! I said. I thought I was done with ear problems! And then I knew I was not going to get anywhere with that kind of thinking. I remembered that what I see in the mirror can’t give true information about how God sees me. I am God’s reflection, not the mirror’s reflection of pain and swelling. So then I sang some hymns and read and highlighted the Bible Lesson.

However, I was still thinking about my ears very negatively. And then I thought about how I cannot be sick, because God is not sick. Since God does not have ear problems, I could not have ear problems. I started to read the Lesson again, wanting to fill my thinking to overflowing with good thoughts and allow no bad ones. My new favorite Science & Health quote helped a lot too (page 242):

“There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no other reality- to have no other consciousness of life- than good, God, and His reflection, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure of the senses.”

In Sunday School, we had been writing out the steps in Christian Science treatment, and these helped too. This includes realizing that God is Love, Life, Truth, Mind, Soul, Spirit and Principle, and man reflects Him. Saying yes to this and no to pain helped.

I looked at my calendar and saw many good things to look forward to, including a Leadership Council trip to New York City and a school class trip whitewater rafting. Then I realized my ears weren’t hurting at all anymore. The error had been eliminated and replaced with a bursting, overflowing cup of positive thoughts. I realized I am perfect (including my ears). God has always been right by my side. I became fully aware that this is true.

I was so happy. Even though the doctor had to take care of getting my earrings out, all the pain was gone. I felt so free, letting go of the untrue, unreal junk that had been infecting my thought. I have learned from this experience that when I let my thought and decisions be guided by what I know is really true about God and man, I can rise superior to anything that lies in my path. Yay!

H.A.

I was with my seventh grade Spanish class in Mexico and I had a chance to pray for myself. I was snorkeling off the coast of a beach with my classmates and my snorkeling mask broke. I kept choking on salt water so I had to keep my head out and out of the water. I was having a bad time, my eyes were getting irritated, and I was really cold.

I started singing “O Gentle Presence” (a hymn by Mary Baker Eddy)* to myself, focusing on the thought that God was there with me and protecting me. Originally I was afraid of snorkeling because my friend in the group before me had gotten stung by a jellyfish twice. But I kept denying this fear and frustration with my mask.

After a couple of verses of the hymn, I started to feel a warm presence around me, I stopped shivering, and I was able to fix my mask. After that, I saw three sea turtles, a barracuda, and lots of fish! This experience has showed me that I can pray on my own, even if my mom isn’t there to help. This has really proven to me that God is ALWAYS there and listening and taking care of me.

A.R.H.

*Mother’s Evening Prayer

by Mary Baker Eddy

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
“Lo, I am with you alway,” — watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
No night drops down upon the troubled breast,
When heaven’s aftersmile earth’s tear-drops gain,
And mother finds her home and heavenly rest.

I am grateful that Christian Science is applicable in small events as well as big ones.

Recently, when I was driving down to serve in our church’s Christian Science Reading Room (a place where anyone can come to find out about Christian Science), my nose began to bleed.  Since I was driving on the highway and there was no place to pull over, I held tissues to my nose and continued on to the Reading Room.  When I arrived there, my nose was still bleeding, and I said to the church member who was serving there, “I need your help!”  She put her arms around me and said, “You’ve got it, Honey!”  She lovingly and confidently prayed to see me as safe and whole in God’s arms, rejecting the notion of inharmony in the form of a nosebleed.  Right away, the bleeding stopped, and I was healed.  I was able to take over my duties at the Reading Room, as I had set out to do, even more confident that what we are offering here is of immeasurable value to any and all.

I am so grateful for God’s healing power.

BVV

I shall always remember a quick healing I experienced several years ago, because it showed me so vividly the true nature of a miserable sickness that otherwise seemed very real.

I was working at the time as a Christian Science nurse in a care facility for Christian Scientists, and I was on the night shift. I started feeling quite ill in the wee hours of the morning, running to the bathroom to either throw up or quickly sit. I didn’t see how I would be able to finish my shift, as we were about to start our morning cares for early risers, and I didn’t think anyone else would be able to replace me at that early hour.

I decided to do something I had read about in Science and Health, page 261:

“Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.”

This instruction goes along with another gem I remembered Mrs. Eddy wrote in First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, page 210:

“Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort.  And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited.”

So, following those instructions to the best of my ability, I decided I would go forward a step at a time, filling my thought with every God-centered idea I knew, and refusing to entertain anything else. I sang hymns out loud, said the Lord’s Prayer out loud, declared the Scientific Statement of Being (S&H, pg 468), and any other spiritual truth that came.  The effect of this mental insistence was amazing to me.  I was hoping I guess for an abatement of the symptoms until I could get finished and go home to bed, but instead, the entire miserable feeling of being nauseous, achy, and not myself melted like a fog being lifted by irresistible sunshine.  The symptoms weren’t just ameliorated; they evaporated!  I was thrilled to see that by insisting on the God-given fact of my uninvadable being, I was completely freed from wretchedness.  I completed my shift with joy, strength, and vigor, and went home in peace.

I am so grateful that this illustrates a principle that is available to all.  God (Love) made each one of us, and Love keeps us.  There is divine authority in knowing that.

ALK

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was diagnosed with an infection during one of my regular checkups. As the obstetrician handed me the prescription, I had to tell her that I really didn’t intend to fill it and would be relying on prayer instead. She explained that this infection was thought to increase the risk of premature birth and that she didn’t feel comfortable with my decision. After some discussion we came to an agreement: she would re-test me during my next visit, and if the infection had not cleared up I would take the medication.

During the next month I tried again and again to pray about this situation, but met with mostly frustration. I was feeling pressure to get rid of the infection and not spending much time listening to God. Finally one afternoon as I was sitting quietly in the bathtub, I reached out to God and humbly asked for His guidance. At that moment, I felt as if a warm light was shining down on me in the tub and my thought was filled with a message from God – He simply told me to be grateful for the child. I realized that I had been having a lot of feelings about my coming child (mostly anxiety) but gratitude was not at the top of the list. From then on, every time I thought about the baby I was “bathed” in pure gratitude.

At my next checkup the obstetrician tested my sample herself, as she didn’t want to waste time waiting for the lab results to get me started on the medication. When she came back into the room where I was sitting, she was shaking her head and saying, “I looked at it twice under the microscope myself, and there was no sign of the infection!”

This healing was an important one to me for a couple of reasons. First of all, anybody who has ever been a mother can tell you that anxiety can be a constant companion if you let it. Learning to replace anxiety with gratitude has been a go-to skill for me countless times over the last twelve years since this healing occurred!

Secondly, a logical person might wonder why I would choose to spend a month praying about a minor medical problem that could be treated with a $10 prescription in about 5 minutes. What I learned is that the infection never was the issue. It was just a little warning sign that I needed to get closer to God. And no amount of effort is too much if it gets you closer to God.

HH

I just finished 6th grade, and one of my favorite things to do is track and field. I love running and especially high jump. I practice almost everyday with my team. But my foot had been hurting one day after practice. It wasn’t a particularly bad injury, but it hurt on the ball of my foot which is the main point of pressure.

My first thought was to be worried and afraid because that weekend was the qualifying meet for the Junior Olympics. But right after that thought came into my head, I pushed it right out. I knew bad ideas would get me nowhere. I had to focus on angel thoughts. I remembered one of the first and simplest things that I had learned in Sunday School, “I am the image and likeness of God,” which means I am a perfect child of God because I reflect His qualities. I get my unlimited supply of strength from Him, and nothing can change that. And as it says in I John: 4: 18, ‘There is no fear in Love; but perfect love casteth out fear.’ I knew that I loved track, so it definitely could not cause pain. So, that weekend when I went to compete, I didn’t feel any soreness or pain at all.

Editor’s Note: Amy did qualify for the upcoming Junior Olympics and will be competing with girls her age in the high jump and pentathlon. Yay!

A.H.