Even devoted students of Christian Science have occasion to dig deeper in their understanding of its teachings about God, our relation to God, and the practice of Christian healing. I recently experienced the need to go well beyond my normal study discipline, to unreservedly reach out and declare my unimpaired oneness with my creator, and to express my joy and freedom as His, Her, loved child.
A little before Thanksgiving last year, I felt a growing discomfort in my midsection. It affected my mobility, and over a few days it became quite painful. Realizing the need to meet this false claim, I reached out to a Christian Science practitioner for treatment through prayer. This was entirely natural for me, as I have experienced the power of prayer grounded in the divine Science of being to meet every need since boyhood.
So many wonderful, healing ideas were shared by the practitioner. And, even in the midst of extreme discomfort, I was finding healing ideas through my regular—but deeper—study of our beloved weekly Bible Lessons in the Christian Science Quarterly. Other ideas flowed in as I dug into my treasured notes from Christian Science class instruction. I had learned about my oneness with divine Love, and with all Love’s attributes that were mine—and everyone’s—by reflection. I was assured that Love could only be expressed in tenderness, compassion, boundless freedom, and wholeness. In divine Love, fear, pain, or discomfort simply could not be real. I didn’t need to experience these errors. More accurately, I, as the beloved child of God, could not experience them. Love brings freedom.
The practitioner and I spoke daily, sometimes several times a day. Each call gave me strong assurance that healing was taking place, whether or not the outward physical circumstances had changed.
The problem was particularly acute at night, and I dreaded going to bed without relief and knowing I would have limited sleep. However, I soon reversed that fear and gained my peace by deciding that it was a wonderful time to get closer to God without outside distractions.
Mary Baker Eddy makes a radical statement when she defines for the ages “the scientific statement of being,” which begins: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468). Regardless of how loudly or persistently the material senses screamed, I began to see more and more clearly that anything that claimed my identity, or anyone else’s, was bound up in and limited by matter was a lie, which I did not need to accept. My being had always been, and always would be, spiritual, intact, perfect, and whole in Mind’s allness, and as Mind’s manifestation.
I prayed specifically to realize more fully my perfection in Mind, that the mortal picture was simply a counterfeit claim. Simply put, God, good, would not, could not, and did not permit any cloud of imperfection to impede His pure and holy creation. Christ Jesus set the standard for all mankind: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the word perfect in the Greek means “complete.” I was complete and free to move flawlessly.
Christian Scientists pray each day to know God better, to understand Him and His attributes more clearly, and to realize what that means to us as God’s expression, or likeness. In her definition of God, Mrs. Eddy uses “all-acting,” among other terms, to describe God (see Science and Health, p. 587). I clung to that healing aspect of God as His gift to me as His son. I declared daily and hourly my ever-active, flawless freedom of movement.
I was particularly grateful for our Christian Science Hymnal. The clear messages of joy, gratitude, assurance, and power in Mrs. Eddy’s poems, set to music as hymns, were so helpful, especially at night. They affirmed that the “gentle presence” of our creator, divine Love, was present, blessing me and all, and that the Christ, God’s manifestation to all, “come[s] to me, and tenderly, / Divinely talk[s]” (Hymns 207 and 253).
Another hymn declares,
Man is the noblest work of God,
His beauty, power and grace,
Immortal; perfect as his Mind
Reflected face to face.
God could not make imperfect man
His model infinite;
Unhallowed thought He could not plan,
Love’s work and Love must fit.
. . . . .
The clouds of sense roll back, and show
The form divinely fair.
(Mary Alice Dayton, No. 51)
Gratefully, I came to see more and more clearly that “beauty, power and grace” are divinely bestowed on me. Over a period of a few weeks I was completely healed, and soon I was back to my regular active schedule and competitive running routine, which continue today.
These experiences never leave us where they found us. I today have a much more profound, but still growing, understanding of our Leader’s statement that “there is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter.” Matter and the material senses can tell us nothing. Infinite Mind, our divine source, tells us everything—all we ever need to know.
Family members were so helpful during this experience. My wife offered all the comforts of home. Our daughter was so loving in her visits. Our son came from a great distance to be with me in support. The dear practitioner lovingly and patiently gave me much-needed inspiration, even at unusual hours. I have the deepest gratitude for our Way-shower—the master Christian, Christ Jesus—and for our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, for her steadfast devotion to the Bible, and for making clear the timeless, healing message of the Christ.
Frank C. “Pat” Daniels, Jr.
Prairie Village, Kansas, US
