Testimonies of Healing

In my yard there is a mango tree. In the summer of 2021, it yielded so many mangoes that one of the branches split from the weight.

One morning as I started to get out of bed, I found I could not put any weight on one leg. I’d been dealing with discomfort in my knee for some time, but I hadn’t given it much thought.

I am deeply grateful for Jesus’ example, his expression of love, compassion, tenderness, spiritual clarity, and most of all, for his understanding of God, which enabled him to teach, preach, and heal with tremendous authority. Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of The Church of Christ, Scientist, explained Jesus’ words and works—his demonstrations of the healing Christ, the true idea of God—in such an inspired way throughout her textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Several years ago, I awoke one morning feeling very strange and realized that one side of my body was paralyzed. However, I knew from past experience that I could be healed through prayer.

When this author was stung by a wasp, she was led to pray for the world. Her prayers had a healing effect.

When our son was in grade school, he had periods of dry coughing. These instances came at different times of the year and for no apparent reason, as he seemed to be in perfect health otherwise.

When I walked across the street from my house into a Church of Christ, Scientist, for the first time, I was greeted with love. It was love that kept me coming back, because I had felt broken and unlovable up until that point.

A student once asked his astronomy professor, “If I go to the end of the universe and poke my finger through, won’t the universe keep going?” His question implied he was thinking of the universe as a physically spatial entity, and the professor replied that the student needed to exchange his concept of a material universe, which would be inherently limited, for a mathematical model that represented ideas. Like the student, I found myself making the same mistake while trying to resolve an increasingly restrictive and unpleasant business conflict with a couple.

As a child attending a Christian Science Sunday School, I learned that God is a reliable source of help, but I never knew that the hymns we sang would be prayers when I needed them. I realized this when my dad signed me up for flying lessons the summer that I turned sixteen.

In September of 2001, when I had recently retired from teaching, the branch Church of Christ, Scientist, where I was a member was holding elections for First and Second Reader. While church members are free to withdraw their names from the eligibility list, it had always been my practice to keep my name on the list for Readers and other church officers.