I was enjoying the company of a woman seated next to me on a long flight. She was going to visit her mother and sisters in Germany, where she had grown up.
She told me, however, that it was likely this might be the last time she would see them. She had been diagnosed with a rare disease for which there was no known medical cure. She added that she felt this must be God’s will for her.
A loving God would want only the best for His children.
Having studied Christian Science and experienced many healings through prayer throughout my life, I was surprised to hear her say she felt her illness must be God’s will. It was so unlike the God I had known and loved.
My heart went out to this woman, and I felt led to share a few simple thoughts with her about God, whom the Bible calls Love. A loving God would want only the best for His children—just as this woman wanted for her children, whom she had spoken of very affectionately. I mentioned that Christ Jesus, God’s Son, went about healing many diseases, and he would not have done this if he thought it was against his Father’s will. The Bible also says that God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13). As I shared these ideas with my new friend, she listened quietly, as though deep in thought.
The next morning before landing in Frankfurt, my new friend and I exchanged email addresses and phone numbers, and we decided to stay in touch.
A few months later, to my surprise, I received a phone call from this friend. She had very good news! She announced that for reasons no one could explain, she was free of the rare disease. She told me that all symptoms of the disease had just “evaporated,” and she thought I would like to know. We rejoiced together, and we stayed in touch for many years after this.
The truths I’d shared about God’s love had the ability to help and heal.
Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind” (p. 162). I had not prayed directly for my friend, but I had acknowledged man’s God-given innocence and purity whenever I’d thought of her. And while I can’t say whether her thought had changed, I knew that the truths I’d shared about God’s love for her had the ability to help and heal.
My mother had a saying that was quite simple, but very profound: “If it’s not going on in God’s kingdom, it’s not going on at all.” We can be assured that disease, contagion, suffering, and fear would never be God’s will. And we can trust all to our loving Father-Mother God, who embraces all mankind, and who wants only the best for all His children.
