I have studied this life-transforming divine Science since I was a child, and over the years I have witnessed and experienced countless proofs of healing through prayer. Many of these healings have come about quickly. Others have required persistence, and have compelled significant spiritual growth before being realized.
In late 2017, I was challenged in a way I had never been before. On Christmas Day, I felt persistent pain in one of my arms. I did nothing about it, expecting it to pass. However, during the following week, the pain spread throughout much of my body. Before long I was experiencing extreme pain, and I was forced to severely curtail my activities. I gave up my morning run and began having trouble with normal movement. This was accompanied by extreme weight loss.
Initially I felt no fear, as I was so confident in the power of God to overcome any adverse condition. I was praying, but not diligently or consistently. But as the weeks dragged on to months and there was no improvement, I began to feel anxious. Despite knowing intellectually that I was dealing with a false belief rather than a real condition, I found myself wondering what “it” was, and what had caused it.
Someone very close to me had battled with very similar symptoms and had subsequently passed on, and I found myself remembering this vividly, as I had nursed him during much of this time. I knew it was essential that I overcome both the fear and the vivid images of this loved one’s suffering, images that I had not realized I was still harboring.
I was able to continue working and did not tell anyone of my challenge, except a couple of practitioners who lovingly prayed for me at different times. When I was not working or being with my family, my entire time was spent nurturing a sincere desire to feel closer to God, and to better understand my relation to Him.
I had to learn much-needed lessons in humility. I had always prided myself on being fit and energetic, and had even felt a little smug when I had heard of others around me undergoing replacement surgery, being thankful that I would never have to succumb to that. But this challenge compelled me to see that these individuals were also, in their true being, intact and free from all sense of decline.
I pondered deeply a much-loved statement from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which reads, “Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action” (p. 283). This assured me that true movement had its source in divine Mind, not in muscles, and therefore it could not be impaired.
Whilst driving or simply trying to climb stairs, I clung to another favorite passage from Science and Health: “All that God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting goodness and power” (p. 515). I constantly challenged the insidious suggestions of deterioration and incapacity. I affirmed that power was not a personal possession—rather, it was a reflected attribute of God.
Nights were very difficult owing to the pain, and my sleep was often disturbed. However, I slowly progressed from dreading long, wakeful nights to learning to really appreciate the stillness and solitude in which I became keenly aware of God’s presence and His intimate care for me. The many nights when I wasn’t able to get normal sleep, I was still able to rise the following morning feeling rested and untroubled.
After several months, I found myself becoming very discouraged, though. I would have periods of such clarity and spiritual assurance, followed by disappointment when I failed to see physical improvement. Again and again I needed to remind myself that I did not need to look to matter to determine my well-being, because I was made spiritually by God. I also knew that when my trust in my oneness with God became an unshakable conviction, I would have no need to look to matter to have my soundness verified. Holding to the spiritual facts of health and harmony, I couldn’t help but experience complete healing.
In May of the same year, I was due to fly to South Africa to resume aid work, which I had been undertaking for many years. This deadline loomed large in my thought. I simply could not imagine how I could undergo such a long flight, let alone accomplish the physical work demanded of me there.
Many times I felt I should postpone the trip, but I knew the work was important and felt strongly that I should be there. I prayed to be able to express boldness and courage.
As the date approached, there had still been very little physical improvement. A Christian Science practitioner lovingly prayed for me during the flight, and I was conscious of leaning on God every step of the way. On several occasions strangers helped with my luggage, and I was given a seat that allowed me to get up easily and move around when I needed to.
As I settled in to my new routine, I felt a shift taking place in my thought. All sense of discouragement had given way to a certainty that I would be healed. Impatience gave way to trusting “God’s disposal of events” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 281). I had finally conquered fear.
My biggest challenge was climbing the steep and rough track to the rural village where I was working, and then descending the same track at the end of the day. However, there was always a little child or someone around to assist. For many years they had been watching me running up and down that track, but no one ever commented or questioned me during this time.
One day while reading an article from the Journal, I ran across this quote referring to Christ Jesus: “The great Way-shower illustrated Life unconfined, uncontaminated, untrammelled, by matter” (Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 30).
I looked up the meaning of untrammeled, as I was unfamiliar with it. One definition of it read “not deprived of freedom of action or expression; not restricted or hampered” (lexico.com). The statement was so relevant to me and became uppermost in my thought daily.
The healing came gradually, almost imperceptibly. I became aware that I was moving more freely. I was able to raise my arms to brush my hair. I could sit in chairs that were a normal height, and then rise out of them normally. I could bend over and pick things up from the floor. By the time I had completed my three months’ voluntary work in South Africa, I was almost entirely free.
When I returned home, other symptoms disappeared. I also naturally regained my normal weight, and my movement was fully back to normal.
This healing required much mental discipline. I had to hold to spiritual truth vigorously, and at the same time refuse to be distracted by the severity of the physical condition. I now look back on this as a time of growth in grace and humility. I learnt needed lessons in patience and persistence. Above all, I took away from this experience the necessity to express courage, boldness, and an unwavering trust in the incontestable power of God.
Libby Weir
Pambula Beach, New South Wales, Australia
