Moments after burning my hand on our stove top, I remembered there were many healings of burns, which I had heard at our local Church of Christ, Scientist’s, testimony meetings and read about in the Christian Science periodicals. This solid and extensive record of healing was so encouraging. It meant that I, too, could turn to God and experience His practical care. It meant that I wasn’t experimenting with an untested theory, but demonstrating a proven truth—man’s permanent place in God’s care. I felt as if I was walking a pathway clearly marked by these witnesses of God’s love.
As they had done, I prayed to trust and accept God’s harmonious, uninterrupted presence, instead of the aggressive sensation of pain. I affirmed that God is the one cause, producing only what is good, and never causing harm or accident. I glimpsed that human opinion and the physical senses are not truth-tellers or lawgivers. As God’s unwavering control became more apparent to me, the pain in my hand dissipated and was gone in minutes. The burn marks disappeared a few days later.
I shared this healing at our church’s testimony meeting, and several weeks later a fellow member told me that when he subsequently burned his hand, he recalled my experience and it helped him find his freedom quickly. Of course one seeking healing doesn’t need to hear or read healings of an identical challenge, but it can be strengthening.
I am so grateful to all who unselfishly share a Christian Science healing at a Wednesday testimony meeting or write a testimony for the Christian Science periodicals. Thank you, thank you, for being witnesses to our Father’s tender yet powerful care. It’s reassuring to know that whatever difficulty one is facing, many others have likely overcome it through a realization of God’s enveloping and dependable love.
Every time we acknowledge the present good that God is providing, we experience more of our status as God’s children. As we increasingly devote ourselves to praising and magnifying the perfection of our creator, something truly wonderful begins to dawn within us. We see that God’s love for us is incapable of being diminished. We quit thinking, “This problem may be unreal to God, but it is very real to me.” Rather, we start to understand that whatever is unknown and untrue to divine Love, must be unknown and untrue to its offspring.
Step by step we come to realize that as God’s expression, man is actually conscious of divine Love, recognizes and rejoices in all that God is doing, and literally is an eyewitness to God’s uninterrupted goodness. What a joy to discover that the real man is never unconscious of his Maker’s present perfection.
The prophet Isaiah records our God-defined nature: “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me” (Isaiah 43:10).
Step by step we come to realize that as God’s expression, man is actually conscious of divine Love, recognizes and rejoices in all that God is doing, and literally is an eyewitness to God’s uninterrupted goodness.
A witness doesn’t initiate or create anything, but sees an event and can accurately attest to the facts. In a testimony of Christian Science healing, one is relating the facts of an encounter with God’s saving truth. He or she is reporting what is being seen of God’s omnipotence and the consequent powerlessness of a problem. A witness of divine Love humbly puts aside uncertainty and can say: “God cannot do less than govern and supply me. I am His ‘unremovable’ reflection.”
The human details of our testimony are less helpful to others than the inspiration that brought about the healing. For instance, one Wednesday evening in our church a woman told how she was healed of a cold. It was a simple testimony, but she said something that has guided me many times since. She explained, “I left the problem before it left me.” I loved that. Even if some symptoms or aspects of a difficulty appear to be hanging on, we can quit fearing them or dialoguing with them, and give full attention to the reality and now-ness of our God-given health and joy. As she went forward—“left the problem”—all the symptoms quickly faded away.
Even the most common incident of Christ, Truth, blessing us gives a signal of mankind’s capacity and right to put off other phases of fear, sorrow, and pain. It hints at the great reality that nothing less than God is in control of man. As we consider the larger record of Christian healing, as we discern the “great cloud of witnesses” depicted in the New Testament (Hebrews 12:1), we become open to the truth that we are never permanent or even temporary hostages of unhappiness or suffering. We sense that we, too, can pray and realize that God, good, creates us to be free.
I have found deep joy, needed courage, and fresh inspiration from reading present-day accounts of healing in the Christian Science periodicals, as well as testimonies written by earlier generations of Christian Scientists. When we testify in church, and then share our joy in the periodicals, we bless individuals around the world, fulfill Mary Baker Eddy’s expectation that the Science of healing she discovered be put on record, and obey the biblical command, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy” (Psalms 107:2).
It would seem that many of us can give good reasons why we are not worthy to stand before others and honor God. We may consider ourselves an unpolished speaker or writer. We may have other challenges and fears that have not yet been healed—and so feel unqualified to testify. Our Wednesday meetings and church periodicals would have precious few testimonies if such criteria were all that mattered. What counts is that the heart flows with thankfulness and must bear witness to its discovery of divine goodness right at hand. Because we love others, because we want to confirm their intuition that God is present and providing man with health and dignity, we generously share the inspiration that God has given us. The warm light of gratitude that glows within necessarily finds an honest and appropriate way to manifest itself.
There are certainly occasions when wisdom whispers to hold our healing experiences quietly to ourselves—in a secret, sacred place of the heart. Yet even these silent blessings find a way to ripple out and bless others. They may give holy impetus to our prayers, new conviction to our words, fresh joy to our countenance. Healing, and the gratitude it engenders, just can’t be bottled up.
Rather than affirm our inability or unworthiness to be a witness to God’s saving power, rather than believe that being a witness is the responsibility of someone more spiritually qualified, we might pray: “Father, use me to glorify You. Cause me to be an effective witness of Your love. Enable me to give an accurate report of Your healing truth.”
As we yearn to serve God and draw near to Him, we come to realize that gratitude is not optional. Just as the small child learns the naturalness and rightness of saying, “Thank you,” to others for their kindness, so we are learning the naturalness and rightness of steadily thanking God for His constant gifts to us.
Even when facing daunting difficulties, we can praise God, call to Him in humble thanks, and find a renewal of strength and confidence. In our prayers, we don’t need to wait for a desired outcome to express full appreciation for the truth of God and man’s harmonious unity. We read in the Bible: “The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law. At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee” (Psalms 119:61, 62).
As we allow divine Love to animate our gratitude and use us as its witness, as we share our present and past healings with each other, something immense comes into view. We glimpse that all these evidences of God’s power are not random, but undeniable evidence that the healing power of God’s love is here and accessible and continuous. As we live with heartfelt gratitude, our midnight becomes daybreak.
