One Starry Night

As I knelt down by the sliding glass door to pray I heard a voice over my shoulder, say, “Aw, Mom, this is never going to work.”

I testify that the prayer that I affirmed did work and I would like to share it with you.

It was a cold, clear, starry winter evening after supper in 1986 that my oldest son and I embarked outside to “sight” in his new telescope, hoping to catch a glimpse of Halley’s comet.

Dad was off on a service call, and our youngest 18-month-old son was left inside the house.

As we were setting up the telescope the thought came to me, “What about the back door?”  I looked up in time to see my young son with his back and padded bottom sit down by the sliding glass door.

I gasped knowing he was very close to the door’s foot lock.

I ran to the door; sure enough, he had sat on the latch and we were locked out.

For the next 15-20 minutes my oldest son and I coaxed the baby to lift the latch on the foot lock.  We knelt down by the door motioning and saying, “Lift the lock, lift the lock….”  We also, periodically, ran several times to the front door with the baby following us, to have him unlock the deadbolt, but to no avail, as it was really out of his reach.

Realizing the futility that the front door’s deadbolt was too high up to reach, we settled in at the back door with the foot lock.

In Christian Science we have learned that God is no respecter of persons and he is the divine Mind of all.  We all exist in God, Spirit, moving and having our being.

Adam Dickey writes in “God’s Law of Adjustment,” that “All we have to do is scientifically to bring this law of adjustment into contact with our unfinished problem, and when we have done this we have performed our full duty.”—that “In reality, the problem is not physical, but purely mental, and is the direct result of some thought cherished in mortal mind…. that  “there is a law of God which, when rightly appealed to, would bring about his rescue.”

For me, this means that when we recognize what is absolutely true whatever seems to be hindering will yield to God’s law.

Our experience was proclaiming that we were locked out—separated from each other.

My prayer that night though, didn’t run this gamut of intellectual reasoning, as it was purely inspirational to kneel down and close my eyes to the situation and pray.  I declared in my silent prayer,  “There is just one Mind.”

As I opened my eyes, the baby reached down and, with his finger, disengaged the lock by lifting its latch.  We were in the house in lightning speed just from the simple acknowledgement in prayer that there was just one Mind.

Though my oldest son and I did not see Halley’s comet that night we did catch a glimpse of a good and gracious God, the divine Mind of all.

DLH, March 27, 2012

Finding A Home

I decided to move to an area nearer the Christian Science church I was attending. So for several weeks after church I drove around a particular location I liked. Since I was raised in Christian Science, I turned to God to direct me to the right place. I applied how I was taught to pray by knowing God is an ever present help and He cares for me as His beloved child. I could ask Him for the right ideas to lead me to my right place according to His plan.

Soon I spotted an inconspicuous “For Sale” sign hanging on a fence. I wondered if it was for a large lot in front of the house or for the house and lot. I think God gave me a push to get out of the car and inquire. I walked up a long driveway to the house and rang the doorbell. A gentleman came to the door and assured me the house was for sale.

As the owner was showing me through the rooms, decorated with an unattractive yellow-green color here and there, I was redecorating them in my mind. Even though it needed painting, papering and updating, the house plan was just perfect for me.

It all worked out beautifully. The price was right and he informed me he was a real estate broker and I would not have to pay extra for closing costs. Also, to top it off, there was a lovely lake view. I have enjoyed my home and lived here for many years, painting, papering and updating to my hearts content.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Thank you dear God.

BSL

Renton, WA

Boiling water spill does no harm

Recently, while working in the kitchen, I was boiling some water and dodging my dogs at the same time. In order to avoid spilling boiling water on my dogs, I spilled it on my right arm from elbow to hand.  I immediately declared God’s ever-presence. I could see the redness disappear and felt not an instant of pain. To me it was a demonstration of God’s allness and the immateriality and spirituality of my own being. Thanks to my understanding of Christian Science, I’ve learned that “God is the center and circumference of all being.”

This quote refers to a passage in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, on page 203: 32-1, “God is at once the centre and circumference of being.”

JW
Renton, Washington

‘The voice of the Lord is powerful’

Some years ago, when I worked in television news, I began to have trouble recording the narration to my news reports.  My voice crept up the register to a higher-than-normal pitch.  Soon it began to seize when I tried to record narration, when I taped “stand-ups” on camera, and sometimes even when I talked on the phone.  After a while, the problem became nearly constant.

At first, I wanted to hide under the bed.  But I had begun studying Christian Science a few years earlier, and had recently taken Primary class instruction in Christian Science.  I decided this was an opportunity to test what I was learning about healing.

My prayer brought some breakthroughs early on.  One night, as I was praying in bed and reading the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, I felt the power of God’s love filling my consciousness.  It felt almost like a physical presence, and enormously reassuring.  And it was exactly what I needed.

On another occasion, I had stayed at work late to tape a voice track, and things were not going well.  I was unable to record it to anywhere near my satisfaction.  Tears of frustration flowed as I drove home.  Then I had a sudden, overwhelming urge to return to the station and try again.  When the feeling persisted, I realized it was the “still small voice” of God speaking to me (I Kings 19:12).  So I got off the freeway at the nearest exit and returned to the station.  I taped the narration almost perfectly.  And I knew if this could happen once, I could be permanently healed.

These experiences were of great help to me.  However, my voice continued to get worse overall, and I decided to leave the station, trusting that God would provide a way to support my young family.  We experienced many instances of God’s continuing protection and provision for us.  As Mrs. Eddy wrote in Science and Health, “When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path” (p. 254).

I asked several Christian Science practitioners to pray for me at different times.  I also studied what the Bible has to say about the voice of God.  “The God of glory thundereth,” said the Psalmist.  And, “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty” (Ps. 29:3, 4).  I knew that as the reflection of God, I expressed this voice of Truth, which meant that my ability to communicate was also powerful.

And there was also this command in Isaiah that I strove to follow:  “O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” (40:9).  To me, that was a promise that I had the right to use my voice freely—without fear or impediment of any kind—because speech is a natural part of man’s God-provided ability.

Three of the four Gospels report that Jesus healed people who were completely unable to speak.  I knew that God’s law is unchanging, and that if Jesus healed speechlessness, the same divine law that was at work then was available to me today.

The next couple of years weren’t easy.  At one point, I decided it would be best to seek a medical diagnosis.  But I never followed through because I felt so compelled to rely on God for healing.  I wanted to prove—in the “laboratory” of my own life—that Christian Science, God’s law, really works.

I did my best to follow this instruction in Science and Health: “We must look where we would walk, and we must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we have our being” (p. 264).  In fact, I believe my willingness to do this was key to my progress.  I did my best not to give in to discouragement (this healing took a period of years to complete).  And as I refused to accept limitations (because God didn’t impose them), I found those limitations falling away.

For example, I wrote stories and sold ads for a local business paper.  After one presentation I gave, someone in the audience told me he knew how hard it must be to get up in front of a group of people with the challenges I was having.  But he said what had come through to him was my message—and my perseverance.

I also gave regular testimonies at Wednesday night meetings at my Christian Science branch church.  Support from my fellow church members was very helpful; they steadfastly refused to see (or hear) me as anything but God’s image and likeness.

I accepted an appointment as the church’s Assistant Sunday School Superintendent.  Although at first it was not easy to project from the podium during the services, as the weeks passed, my voice got stronger and stronger, until some time later it was strong and clear again.

It has been more than a decade now since I fully regained my voice.  Since then, I’ve enjoyed several satisfying positions as an employee communicator and consultant—a career that just naturally fell into place as I listened for God’s direction.  I’ve once again hosted radio shows, narrated video programs, and given many presentations to large groups of people.

A few years ago, I concluded a three-year term as Second Reader in my branch church.  Now I’ve begun a term as First Reader.  How could I not express my gratitude through this activity, when God has so graciously and completely blessed me with healing?

I’ve learned no longer to take personal pride in my voice—for I feel I’ve proved beyond doubt that my abilities come directly from God.

BB
Federal Way, Washington

God is all!

My husband came home from the doctor’s office one Friday several years ago with the startling news that he had been diagnosed with mesothelioma.  He had been told that tests showed his lungs were teeming with cancer cells, and he probably would not survive more than six months.  My husband was not a Christian Scientist, but asked me to do some prayerful work for him.  He informed me that I had only the weekend to get a healing, because he had an appointment the following Monday to undergo more tests.

I didn’t feel especially rushed, nor did I feel any fear; however, I didn’t hesitate getting to work prayerfully right away.

One thing that has always been very comforting to me when working on a problem is the fact that “God is All.”  I knew that if God is All, and He is good, there couldn’t be anything the opposite of Him.  There can’t be any disease if God is All.  There can’t be any inharmony of any kind if all there is, is God.

I made a list of as many of God’s qualities I could think of, including love, honesty, compassion, understanding, purity, patience, etc.  Throughout the weekend, I thought about how my husband reflected each one of them.  When I fully understood that, since God is All, His qualities were really all there is and disease was nothing, I stopped working prayerfully and went about doing other things.  If I found myself wondering how he was doing I went back to the fact that God is All, and there could be nothing else but good.

We were both very grateful to learn that the tests he had on Monday showed there was no sign of the disease.  “God is All.”  Just three words, but when understood, they are powerful enough to heal any problem.

EKS

Breathing difficulty healed

Growing up, my family always had a pet dog and I loved animals and enjoyed being around them.  When my husband and I started our own family, we had 3 cats and were living in an apartment.  However, I developed a severe breathing problem whenever I was near the cats, petted them, or cleaned their litter box.  At those times when I was incapacitated, all I could do was struggle for every breath.   This made it very challenging to care for our young daughter.  Having seen and had many other physical healings by God through Christian Science, I again turned to God for healing.  When praying to understand and feel my identity as the child God created, I always found relief but the attacks would continue for several years and limited my interaction with animals.

Over the years, I worked to gain the understanding of my oneness with God that Christ Jesus so clearly showed and demonstrated during his ministry.  These prayerful efforts made in response to the attacks, lifted my concept of myself from a person with a material dysfunctional body to a spiritual idea of an all-loving and caring Father-Mother God.  I found it easier each time to challenge the physical picture of the material symptoms as my understanding of God as Love became a provable reality for me.   A phrase from the Christian Science Hymnal was a source of comfort, inspiration and strength for me: “In atmosphere of Love divine, We live and move and breathe; Though mortal eyes may see it not, Tis sense that would deceive.” (p.145)  My efforts were focused on living that atmosphere of Love.

The final healing came when I conquered the fear of these attacks.  My sister asked if we could take care of their new puppy for a summer.  I knew this would be a loving support to her and her family and knew it was the right thing to do.  Since God’s law is always right and right in all things, I knew no harm could come from expressing that love.  We truly enjoyed having that dog and I never had any attacks for the entire time he was with us.  In addition, we have since had a home filled with two dogs and two cats of our own and I have enjoyed being around horses and other animals with no return of the problem.   I am so thankful for the growth in understanding myself as God’s child that this healing developed and it continues to bless me and my family.

JJD

Childhood conditions healed

I am grateful for having been brought up by parents who were sincere students of Christian Science and passed along to me a love of the Bible and its teachings. It gave me a firm foundation on which to build my life, and a system of study and practice to help me in raising my own family.

During my childhood, I saw many instances of healing based solely on prayer. One that stands out to me happened when I was about 8 years old. I had a wart on my hand. My friends were put off by it and, at a time when many little girls liked to hold hands, nobody wanted to hold mine because of the wart. I was troubled by this. The mother of one of my friends told me that I’d better see a doctor, because the only way I would ever get rid of that kind of wart was to have it frozen off.

One day, my grandmother was visiting. She was a Christian Science practitioner, which means she devoted her life to praying for people to bring about healing for them. She and I sat and talked about the wart on my hand. She explained to me that, since I was a child of God, made in his image and likeness, that wart couldn’t possibly be a part of my being. It had no place in God’s perfect creation. A short while after this conversation, I had the sudden realization that the wart that appeared to be on my hand couldn’t possibly be there; in fact, it had never actually been there. The next time I thought to look at my hand, there was absolutely no sign of any growth of any kind. There was no scar, no mark, nothing. There was no period of time when the wart shrank or died and fell off; it simply disappeared.

My friends were in disbelief that I hadn’t had any physical treatment to have that wart removed, but I knew that it was through my grandmother’s understanding and prayer that it had disappeared. Her prayer had brought about a change in my thought that caused the physical condition to change.

Although a wart isn’t a big deal in terms of a threat to one’s health and well-being, the same principle that applied in the case of the wart applies to any physical condition a person may experience.

I had a similar result with my own children on several occasions. One that stands out occurred when our family was in California. Our daughter was 6 years old at the time, and we were having a wonderful time on vacation, visiting Disneyland and other attractions. At the end of our first day at Disneyland, our daughter began to cry, didn’t look well at all, and wanted to go back to our hotel room. In the middle of the night, she awoke speaking non-sensibly, obviously had quite a high fever, and seemed delirious. As any mother would be, I was at first very frightened. I held her and prayed to quiet my own fears.

As soon as it was possible to do so, I called a practitioner in the area to pray for my daughter. When the gentleman on the other end of the phone said, “I would be delighted to pray for your daughter” — obviously without any doubt that she would be healed — it made me feel much more confident and quelled my fear. I sent my husband and son on their way to enjoy the day’s activities, and told them to check back with us at about noon.

As the practitioner prayed, my daughter and I read articles specifically written for children from the Christian Science Sentinel. She always loved reading them, and we had an enjoyable time together doing this. As the morning wore on, her health improved dramatically. We spoke regularly to the practitioner to report on her progress. By the time my husband called, our daughter was completely well. The fever was totally gone, and her energy level was back to normal. We met up with my husband and son, and we all had a wonderful time. Our daughter ate dinner with great gusto, and we stayed at the amusement park until well into the evening. This healing was very quick and complete, and we were all very grateful for it. We had a wonderful time for the rest of our vacation.

These are just two instances of how Christian Science has been a blessing to me and my family. There have been many more. How could I not be grateful for it?

CB
Federal Way, Washington

Smokey lives!

Smokey is our grey cat. He has a little bit of white on him. He loves to hang out inside and outside our house. This is his story from my perspective. This healing brought new meaning to me about God’s loving care of His creation including animals. Truth really does communicate with love and healing to all creatures.

Earlier this summer I was outside with our dog Bolo talking with a neighbor who had recently adopted a dog from the animal shelter. Our dogs were getting along well and had played briefly together. Suddenly the neighbor’s dog took off like a shot (it may be the fastest I’ve ever seen a dog run!) headed toward my house. My neighbor mentioned that he “must be after something.” With horror I realized that “something” was our cat Smokey who was innocently hanging out in the garden area on the side of our house. He never saw the dog coming. Our dog also ran to see what was happening.

We hurried to the scene yelling at the dogs and by the time we got there Smokey was fighting back the neighbor’s dog as best he could, then managed to get away to cover behind a nearby fence. My neighbor felt terrible and had no idea that their new dog would attack a cat.

Later Smokey came slinking back to the house. I picked him up to comfort him and realized he was injured. He spent the next couple of days quietly in corners under beds upstairs. He did not eat or drink. Meanwhile my husband and I were praying to see the Truth in this situation—to see what God was communicating, not what physicality or human fear was “barking” at us.

We knew that Smokey was innocent and that although the other dog was “on the hunt” in a way that most believe is natural to members of the animal kingdom, this attack wasn’t right and we lodged our mental protest. This included forgiving the other dog and declaring his right to be free from a destructive tendency. Smokey improved a little after a couple days and began to venture out from his hiding places and eat and drink just a little.

About this time our neighbor friend who owned the dog, after realizing that Smokey had been injured, came over with gifts and treats for Smokey. She was very upset and through tears informed us that they (she and her husband) were getting a muzzle for their new dog and had signed him up for obedience classes. Amid hugs my husband and I assured her that Smokey would be alright and that we’d already seen some improvement. She also offered to pay for any vet bills which we told her was not necessary. We were grateful to have such caring neighbors and knew that nothing could tarnish this loving sense of community.

Then things “went south” quickly. Smokey could not eat or drink and began showing symptoms that were frightening. There was evidence of internal injuries. His breathing was labored and unnatural sounds were emitting. Over the next few days he seemed to be wasting away. My husband called a church friend for prayerful support who dearly loves animals and has given numerous testimonies of healing at Wednesday night church services. My husband was struggling with the possible perception from our neighbors that we did not properly take care of Smokey by taking him to the vet. We both continued to pray knowing that these fears needed to be removed to aid the healing.

We both knew that the evidence of the material senses is a false picture of God’s creation. In Science and Health, page 386:2 Mary Baker Eddy says, “Realize that the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted in the case of sickness, any more than it is in the case of sin.” Smokey was innocent. I wondered what Smokey’s concept of himself was. I suddenly thought that perhaps he was chastising himself for not being as alert as he had been in the past or harboring a false concept of getting older. I realized that my thoughts about Smokey and his own had to match God’s and that meant that he was a whole, complete vibrant, ageless, unharmed idea of God. He could not have slipped out of this natural state, no matter what the material evidence.

Early one evening Smokey managed to climb up onto my lap while I was sitting on the couch. I was reading Science and Health and began reading aloud to him from the Chapter on Science of Being. I felt the truth and power of the words. Suddenly the thought came to me, “The wolf shall lie down with the lamb . . .” I knew this was a paraphrase of a quote from the Bible and later looked it up. It’s from Isaiah 11:6, which reads, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” What this angel message was telling me is that God’s harmonious law was in action here and that it was the only law. The injury that appeared from an attack of the neighbor dog just did not fit into the natural order of things under God’s law. This is very different than the laws of nature, so called.

I was in awe and humbled as I watched Smokey jump down and go to his water dish and drink for probably 30 seconds straight, and then he moved to his food dish and ate. The breathing was returning to normal and the harsh sounds associated with the internal injuries were suddenly greatly reduced and disappeared entirely over the next couple of days. I was witnessing God’s law in action and the natural adjustments were rapidly taking place. I was joyous! My husband came home from a meeting and I was able to share this grand news! We have been so grateful for this healing lesson.

Smokey has a renewed sweet relationship with me. He climbs on our bed at night and sleeps next to me regularly now, nuzzling my hair and snuggling close. He knows he has felt Love’s (God’s) presence and he continues healthy and happy.

I have experienced numerous healings, including physical (these range from instantaneous healings of flu symptoms to a lump in my breast), relationship-related, problems associated with a lack of income, housing, and other human challenges. Even so, this experience with Smokey stands out as an inspiration.

MLR