It is with great joy that I share my appreciation for Christian Science and the healing power of prayer. Last summer while living at my remote cabin on an island in the Bering Sea, off Alaska, I injured my eye when a bungee cord I was attaching to my all-terrain vehicle came off and hit my eye with full force. It all happened so quickly that I am not sure I was able to close my eye before contact. Afterward, I could not open my eye without intense pain.
As I was trying to remain conscious, my thought was “Oh no!” Many material scenarios played in my mind about the future of my vision, but then I stopped myself and turned to God in prayer. As it says in the Bible, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10). This is what I endeavored to do—to acknowledge the allness and oneness of God. After gaining control of my thinking, I found some relief.
Once in my cabin, I read, with the other eye, a few lines from the Christian Science Bible Lesson for that week and then gave myself a Christian Science treatment with those ideas. I acknowledged God’s allness and my perfection as the image and likeness of God, and denied the belief of injury and affirmed the truth of God’s constantly intact creation. I prayerfully worked to allay my fear and to see the absolute reality of the divine power. The intense pain went away quickly, but the eye was not functioning correctly, and it was very uncomfortable to open.
I spent that day in prayer, and the next day it came to me that maybe a seeming lack of progress was because I was resistant to the idea of calling a Christian Science practitioner for help. I felt that I should be able to experience healing on my own. Well, it does say in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, that if we are not healing a problem, we should seek help—“If students do not readily heal themselves, they should early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid them” (p. 420).
I don’t have phone service there, but I can get internet from the fuel company. So I emailed a friend who is a Christian Science practitioner, and she said she would be happy to pray with me and support me in “letting God be seen more fully.” I continued to study the Bible, Science and Health, and other writings of Mrs. Eddy. Also, I had a few copies of the Journal with me.
One particular sentence from Science and Health that was in that week’s Bible Lesson gave me specific food for thought: “The power of Christian Science and divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to unclasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death” (p. 412).
I began to see that whatever belief might appear to be attaching itself to our thought, clouding our view of ourselves as God’s intact children, it is not of God, and it cannot remain—for Love can undo its seeming hold. So whether it is human traits, thoughts, actions, whatever, it can have no actual hold on us. My spiritual vision was getting much clearer as these truths came into focus in my thoughts, and I knew that normal human vision would follow.
In one of her writings, Mrs. Eddy says, “The lens of Science magnifies the divine power to human sight; and we then see the supremacy of Spirit and the nothingness of matter” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 194). This helped me to “see,” through “the lens of Science,” the allness of Spirit and the nothingness of matter. I knew that as I understood this spiritual reality and perfection, I could expect to see adjustment and healing with my eye situation.
Another thing I was finding was that animal magnetism (the belief that there is more than one Mind governing the universe) was tempting me to believe that maybe Christian Science couldn’t heal this completely. I needed to stay on guard and watch my every thought. After a few days, I was able to open the eye without any pain, but the vision was not clear.
An article in the 2015 August Journal titled, “Three important concepts in healing: cause, substance, and law,” was very helpful. The sentence that really helped me was: “Jesus understood that right there, in actual fact, every faculty of man was spiritual, already perfect and functioning in obedience to Spirit.”
The idea that my true vision was “functioning in obedience to Spirit” really made sense and brought great relief. I really began to understand that true substance is not material. In truth, vision had nothing to do with the physical eye. It was spiritual and was always functioning in obedience to Spirit; it could not be disrupted by anything, such as an accident, age, or anything else.
The “Interlude” in that same Journal also had an idea that was very helpful—
. . . . .
the unerring precision
of Mind’s disposition
unfolds the flawless design
of God’s perfect day.
(Fenella Bennetts)
I really liked the idea of precision and that the disposition or arrangement of my entire being was governed by the precision of Mind, and so was my vision. Every aspect of God’s creation is perfect because of Mind’s precision.
I was able to function normally and do all the things that needed to be done with very few people aware of the challenge I was having with my eye. But my vision out of the one eye was blurred unless I looked straight ahead.
Then one morning while studying the Bible Lesson, I read in Science and Health: “Principle is not to be found in fragmentary ideas” (p. 302). It came so clear to me that nothing about me as an idea of God could be fragmented—not my vision, not my life, nothing.
I rejoiced to know that this statement of fact was true about me, along with another statement that I had been praying with from No and Yes, in which Mrs. Eddy writes, “There was never a moment in which evil was real” (p. 24). I knew that these statements were the truth of my very being.
Also from the article about “Three important concepts of healing” is this sentence in regard to Jesus’ healing of the man with the withered hand: “This Christ message was brought to the flesh, and the result was a corrected human perspective, which then saw normal formation and action restored.” This was manifest in my case, too. With the understanding that evil was never real, that everything functions in obedience to Spirit with precision and flawless design, and that there is no fragmentation in Christ, my vision was restored.
I am most grateful for this growth in grace, for all who endeavor to demonstrate this Christ Science, and for our wonderful Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, and our Exemplar, Christ Jesus.
Karin Holser
Anchorage, Alaska, US
