Testimonies of Healing

Although I grew up in a Christian Science Sunday School, Christian Science seemed to go in one ear and out the other. I did well in school, and in sports and extracurricular activities, but during high school I became increasingly depressed and was concerned about the worsening symptoms of mental illness I was observing in myself.

On one occasion, 16 years ago, I suffered from a skin condition that bothered me a lot. Although I didn’t see a doctor, the symptoms were those of herpes zoster , an ailment also known as zona or shingles.

Decades ago, when we were new to Christian Science, we took our small children to spend a vacation on a farm. It was a pious farm family and I had indicated to them my faith, and offered our help at this busy harvesting time.

A few years ago, our one-year-old golden retriever puppy, Madison, started vomiting and stopped eating. She became alarmingly lethargic, which led us to believe she had swallowed something that was now lodged somewhere in her digestive tract.

One night last summer, while getting ready for bed, I noticed itchy bumps on my body. It looked and felt like an outbreak I’d had a few times before.

A little more than 20 years ago, before I found out about Christian Science, I was suffering from many ills: a grave problem with my eyes, back pains, rheumatism, and chronic constipation. I would often cry about my situation, wondering if my life would be better one day.

As a result of my study of Christian Science, I felt no sense of loss or emptiness when my mother passed on recently, just a calm trust that she was going on as God’s dearly beloved daughter. My family has never been very close, but we came together in a warm, loving way at the funeral, and I felt that healing was taking place.

Some healings in Christian Science call for persistent trust, others involve humble reformation, while many come simply and quickly. Recently I’ve been thinking about some healings that came rapidly, and I’d like to share them.

I am extremely grateful for all the good that Christian Science helps me to regularly demonstrate. Some time ago, my wife and I had planned to spend a week’s vacation in the mountains.

Since the time I took class instruction in Christian Science, I’ve been familiar with the seven synonyms for God that Mary Baker Eddy uses in Science and Health with Key to the Scripture . But recently, when reading this book, I noticed that the terms Principle and Love are used in close relationship, as in these passages: “He [Jesus] knew that the divine Principle, Love, creates and governs all that is real” ( p.