I was blessed to have been raised in Christian Science and to have attended a Christian Science Sunday School from the first classes until I went to college. I was taught all the basics such as the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, many Bible stories, the healings and demonstrations of Jesus, and of course, all about the spiritual truth of God and man. My Sunday School experience also included studying the writings of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. I was especially helped by her “scientific statement of being” and the definitions of God and man (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 468, 587, 591).
In college, I learned how to apply these truths for myself, using this Science in all phases of my life; in preparing for exams, making decisions, praying about relationships, employment, and other needs that cropped up. All the needs I had were met.
After I was married, our family proved God’s love for all His children with healings of fever, flu, internal blockage, cuts, accident, and many other issues. Over the years, I’ve used what I’ve learned in Sunday School as a foundation to meet every need our family
experienced.
An example occurred when my oldest child began Sunday School. I felt the need to give back the gift I’d received by teaching in my branch Church of Christ, Scientist. There was a requirement that all teachers have Christian Science class instruction. It was a challenge to meet our family’s financial needs, and the time, baby-sitting, and money to accomplish this seemed a daunting obstacle.
I applied the truths I’d learned in Sunday School and also searched the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings for the right, healing ideas to apply in my prayers. Mrs. Eddy tells us: “Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 307). I relied on this, listening for ways the financial and time obstacles could be overcome. They were, and I was able to take class instruction.
I’ve gone on to teach every age in Sunday School, in many different churches and states ever since. I will always consider my class instruction as the greatest blessing I’ve ever received.
Once, when I was teaching the youngest class, we were acting out one of Jesus’ healings—the man with the withered hand (see Matthew 12:10-13). When Jesus told the man to stretch forth his hand, I stretched out my hand, which at the time was covered with a severe rash. One of my little students said, “You’d better heal your hand.” Was that ever a wake-up call! I’d struggled with the appearance of detergent burn for years and had prayed and made progress, but I’d never been healed completely. I knew it was time to meet this and heal it.
I stuck to the fact that as a spiritual idea of God, I could not be deprived of anything good. I couldn’t be deprived of my teaching nor could my student be deprived of his teacher.
I had to prove what I was teaching—that what Jesus told us we could do, we can do. The Bible tells us that we’re made “in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27). Mrs. Eddy tells us: “The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness” (Science and Health, p. 151). I knew that, as God’s eternally perfect, spiritual child, no reaction or abnormal condition could be part of my true nature. I could challenge that whole picture, knowing that God governs me perfectly.
We all can prove this is true. Mrs. Eddy gives us food for thought in this comment about Christian Science treatment: “Healing by Christian Science has the following advantages:—
“First: It does away with all material medicines, and recognizes the fact that, as mortal mind is the cause of all ‘the ills that flesh is heir to,’ the antidote for sickness, as well as for sin, may and must be found in mortal mind’s opposite,—the divine Mind” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 33).
I looked to God, divine Mind, for the truth about myself and applied the ideas as I had been taught in class instruction. I received the wonderful gift of a complete healing by the next week and have never had a recurrence.
Another incident occurred a few years ago. I had to take a leave of absence from teaching for a month or so because of what seemed like a severe intestinal problem. One of my students wrote me the following note: “Get well, Miss Jill, because I want you to come back to Sunday School. Sick is no word for a woman like you!”
This triggered a response in my thought, causing me to really pray about myself as the good, perfect, loved child of God. I stuck to the fact that, as a spiritual idea of God, I could not be deprived of anything good. I couldn’t be deprived of my teaching nor could my student be deprived of his teacher.
I began reasoning, studying, and working with Mrs. Eddy’s teachings, beginning with this statement: “A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive” (Science and Health, p. 463). I held constantly to this truth, expecting the healing action it speaks about to come to pass in my experience—the removal of whatever was not right.
I kept my thought filled with Truth and Love, as Mrs. Eddy instructs, even reading out loud the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson, passages from the Bible, Science and Health, and articles from the periodicals until progress was made (see Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 210). I took a stand for Truth, and continued audibly and silently declaring the truth until I was healed.
I was soon able to return to my teaching post. That healing occurred about five years ago and since then, there’s been no reappearance of the problem.
I’m very grateful for all the benefits I’ve gained as a Sunday School student and teacher. They’ve blessed me with healing, increasing gratitude, purpose, and spiritual growth in my ongoing journey to understand and demonstrate God’s never-ending love and care for all His children.
