FOR TWENTY YEARS, my husband and I contentedly raised our family of three children on a ten-acre farm. Activity and warmth abounded within our extended home circle, which also included my parents who lived in a nearby town. Then within a six-month period, significant changes began to occur.
In January of one year, both my parents passed on within just a few days of each other. Later that spring, two of our children left home to pursue their own lives with their new spouses. During this same period, my husband began negotiating the sale of our hydroponic greenhouse business, which we conducted at the farm, and shortly thereafter, we decided to sell the farm and move into my parents' home. Both the business and the farm were quickly sold, for which we were very grateful. In June, we completed the move to my parents' home.
I hadn't been fully aware of just how stressful those months had been, but I soon began experiencing an irregular heartbeat, which left me very weak. All the circumstances and deep feelings of the previous six months fit exactly Mary Baker Eddy's spiritual description of heart in the Glossary of Science and Health: "Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and sorrows" (p. 587).
From early childhood, I'd been raised by loving parents who were Christian Scientists. As an adult, I had chosen to trust in this scientific healing religion as my way of life. Now I turned to the scientific meaning of divine Truth for healing. Two verses from Psalms became my constant prayer: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." And the second one: "Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me" (51:10, 11). At times, when the physical condition was especially disturbing, I would also thoughtfully consider and sing the words of Mary Baker Eddy's hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal. Step by step, this study and prayer lifted my thoughts to more spiritual views. Rather than the mortal sense of heart—the stress of material emotions and physical turmoil—continuing to dominate, I felt more of the calming touch of the Christ, assuring me of God's love and tender care. These verses from the hymn "Christ My Refuge" provided ongoing inspiration:
And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea
I see Christ walk,
And come to me, and tenderly,
Divinely talk.
Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock,
Upon Life's shore,
'Gainst which the winds and
waves can shock,
Oh, nevermore!
(Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 253)
I was grateful that at no time did I feel pain, nor did I fear that my well-being depended on the physical activity of my heart. This experience became for me one of gaining a clearer understanding of the reality of life and being as spiritual, sustained entirely by the Divine. As I drew closer to God, the stress I'd been feeling in the face of so much change started to fall away. A new sense of spiritual peace emerged in my thoughts. Steadfast reliance on God's goodness led me to recognize the security, harmony, joy, and freedom that are eternally ours when we find our life in divine Love. I saw that God is always taking care of each one of His children—now and forever, and that I could completely trust in this truth.
Within less than two months, the heart condition disappeared. I regained my normal energy and strength and could attend to the multitude of my home and work activities with no difficulty. In the many years since this healing occurred, I have never had any further trouble.
Every day, I am grateful for the Science of the Christ that Jesus lived and that Mary Baker Eddy discovered and made available to the world.
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON, US
