Testimony of Healing

THE SPEED AND STRENGTH OF GOD'S HEALING POWER

Right after Christmas one year, our family went skiing. On the first day, I lost my concentration and fell, landing very hard on my right arm.  The pain nearly took my breath away.  I could not put any weight on the arm to rise, and lay there just asking my husband and son to pray for me.  As a lifelong Christian Scientist, I had always turned to God for healing.  So it was natural for me to reach out to Him now.

All I was able to think of at first was this thought, which had come to me as I fell: "Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why .... "  This statement comes from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which I have studied along with the Bible since I was a child.  The entire passage, which I looked up later, says, "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" (p. 397).

I understood that God was infinite, intelligent, and loving, and that I was His reflection.  Therefore I was expressing God's perfection.  Here was the reason why I could not be hurt-as a child of God, I could only reflect what my Father-Mother God was expressing.  God being intelligent and omnipotent, His creation could never be unintelligent, or without order, and accidents could not be present in His creation, which included me.  My prayer was based on this understanding, although at that moment, these deeper thoughts did not come to me.  Although I was tempted to go to the first-aid room and have the arm attended to, I knew that prayer alone was the answer for me.

Finally I was able to get up, and to ski carefully, with one pole, down to the lift, where the operator slowed the lift down for me.  At this point, all kinds of thoughts and fears of a lengthy recovery flooded in.  A year before, I had injured that same arm, and although I had prayed and received treatment in Christian Science at different times, I had just recently gained complete freedom to move it normally.

At the lodge, I called for prayer from a Christian Science practitioner.  I poured out my story to him.  The thought he shared that stuck with me was that heaven doesn't include a list of our accidents.  I knew that Science and Health defines heaven as "harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul" (p. 587).  Here Spirit, Principle, and Soul are names for God.  Since heaven equals harmony, and God is omnipresent, I reasoned, I could only be surrounded by His heavenly harmony.

I found an empty chair in a quiet corner of the lodge to continue praying and quieting my thinking, in order to be more receptive to God's thoughts.  I remember looking out the window of the lodge at the beauty of the mountains and the clearness of the sky.  I was grateful for the loving support of my husband, the availability of the practitioner, and the calm and inspiring thoughts he shared with me.  And I was not afraid anymore.

After some time, I couldn't see any reason to stay inside. As long as I didn't move my arm, there was no pain.

Back in our hotel room later on, I again called the practitioner.  I told him about a concern I'd had that I was out of shape and needed exercise.  He read something to me over the phone from Science and Health with such depth of meaning and clarity and warmth: "Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority.  Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.  Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good.  God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man" (p. 393).  I understood that the divine Mind is the authority and governor of all existence.  It is the "exercise" of Mind's authority that is necessary for healing.

I also spoke with him about a lingering concern I had that I could not pray effectively at the moment.  He reminded me that "desire is prayer .. “ (Science and Health, p. 1) and that I could trust that my desire for healing in itself was a prayer that would be heard.

With that, I felt at peace and comforted. I had a most restful night of sleep.  The next day we had a five-hour drive home, and I used my arm freely, writing letters all the way.

By the time we arrived home, there was no more pain.  I was able to lift heavy objects and open stiff bottles. I had complete freedom of movement in the arm.

I am so grateful for this experience.  It demonstrated so clearly to me the speed and strength and beauty of God's power.  It was truly awesome!

Susan Anderson
Bainbridge Island, Washington, US

Reprinted with permission from the Christian Science Sentinel May 15, 2006, page 24
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