There was a time many years ago when I struggled with my preparedness to practice Christian Science effectively. Thoughts frequently occurred to me that I just did not know enough; that if faced with a serious situation, I would not be able to hear God or know what to do. One year, at a meeting of my Christian Science association, there were reports of two children completely healed solely through Christian Science treatment.
After hearing these accounts, and while I was driving the four-plus hours to my home, I became aware that my misgivings about my ability to practice effectively were a rather foreign response, as I had been raised in Christian Science and had witnessed many healings while growing up and as a young adult. So why the doubt? What was influencing me?
Simply put, it was fear. This realization launched me into deep study. As the divine idea of God, each of us is made “in His image and likeness,” eternally at one with Him, and so always being communicated to by our divine Parent (see Genesis 1:26, 27). Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, speaks about the qualities of that communication, noting that true thoughts are “God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality …” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 581). These can never be undermining or producing dark thoughts of fear. We can label dark thoughts as clearly not from God. The Bible addresses how to deal with such thoughts: “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).
I saw the importance of acknowledging the Christ idea manifesting itself, right here, in our experience, in order to destroy error of every sort, no matter how loudly mortal mind screams trying to get our attention.
While the King James Version of the Bible uses the word reprove here, the Amplified Bible uses both reprove and expose in this passage. According to Webster’s dictionary, to “reprove” means to reprimand, to censure; and to “expose” means to make visible, to uncover, to reveal the truth. For effective practice, then, we must be in accord with God and the truth about ourselves, not associate dark suggestions with ourselves or allow them to be comfortably present in our daily actions and interactions with others. Rather, we must expose them for what they are, false arguments. It’s important to be aware that the need is not only to identify thoughts as not from God—expose them as untrue—we must also “censure” them—refute their suggestions and replace them with the truth.
Mrs. Eddy underscores the importance of being alert to how these dark thoughts attempt to operate: “Unless one’s eyes are opened to the modes of mental malpractice, working so subtly that we mistake its suggestions for the impulses of our own thought, the victim will allow himself to drift in the wrong direction without knowing it” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 213). This passage correlates clearly with the Bible’s counsel.
Putting out the false suggestions that we could ever be separated from our divine Parent increasingly brings the understanding of the Science behind all the healing work that Jesus performed. Having a mind free of mental clutter makes us receptive to the Christ speaking to us and manifesting itself, right here in our experience, destroying error of every sort, no matter how loudly mortal mind tries to get our attention.
In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy states, “Rise in the conscious strength of the spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind, alias matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit” (pp. 390–391). What we have to do, as the Bible notes, is to reprove and expose mortal mind’s plea, its claim to reality; make it unwelcome, turn our backs on it. We must give it absolutely no power, but rather see and embrace the “spirit of Truth” and then we will experience the “supremacy of Spirit.” After I’d studied these passages, pondered them, lived them, it became easier for me to spot unfruitful thoughts, recognize them as false suggestions, and correct them on the spot.
About two weeks after I’d begun my deep study, a neighbor called. She was so hysterical that I wasn’t sure who she was at first, or what the problem was. I just knew that she was terribly upset. When I finally figured out who it was, I told her I would come to her home immediately.
On my way, these words from Science and Health came like a clarion call: “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” (p. 424).
I was very familiar with the first part of that sentence, but at that moment it was the remainder that caught my attention: “… we must leave the mortal basis of belief ….” As spiritual ideas of God, none of us is part of the material dream, nor could we ever be separated from our Father-Mother God. Since we are in the care of our true Parent, each of us is eternally safe. We can always turn to God; He is ever present and ever ready to guide and protect all of us. We can rely on God in every instance and trust everything to His care.
I learned that it is God who does the healing and I can trust everything to His care. I saw that, as God’s reflection, I do know all I need to know in any given situation—by reflecting the only Mind there is, God’s.
The rest of that sentence also stood out to me; we must “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.” As God’s reflection, we are eternally, divinely one with Him, so we know all we need to know in any given situation—by reflecting the only Mind there is, God. These are powerful and healing statements we can all apply.
When I arrived at my neighbor’s home, this is what I found: Her four-year-old had accidentally knocked over a twelve-cup coffee pot—completely full and set on high—onto her nine-month-old, badly scalding him. Both of the children were screaming, and the mother was beside herself.
We were living on the Outer Banks of North Carolina at the time, and the nearest help was a medical clinic. I sent the mother, who wasn’t a Christian Scientist, into the other room to call her doctor, while I helped with the baby. Since I had put out any “dark thoughts” of unpreparedness, through the whole time there God guided my every thought and action as I helped this family. And while I was doing so, I wasn’t allowing fear to gain a foothold in my thoughts, but was keeping my thought in line with what I knew was true about God, and man as His reflection.
The end result was that the baby was perfectly well in two to three days and had no scarring or aftereffects. No medical means of healing were used. When the mother had the child examined, none of the invasive medical procedures the medical profession had originally thought would be needed ever came to pass.
This experience has been a great mile post for me as I have continued to grow in my understanding, demonstration, and practice of Christian Science. As a result, I have had the opportunity to see the effects of God’s healing power in many situations. As a single mother for many years, I’ve daily witnessed the ever-presence of our true Parent, God. I’ve also seen quick healings of childhood diseases, found a lost dog safe and sound, and saw a beautiful healing after one child was kicked in the face by a horse.
My doubting experience was certainly a wake-up call about the subtlety of mortal mind and how alert we must be at all times. We must never be duped into being scared or fearful. Truly, I’ve seen the truth of this Bible verse: “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me” (Psalms 138:8). I am eternally grateful to be a student of Christian Science.
