After my wife and I returned from a trip to California in the spring of 2022, I had a bout of severe coughing that woke me in the middle of the night. So as not to disturb my wife’s sleep, I rose and went out to the sofa in another room to pray. I also listened to the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson and articles from the Christian Science Sentinel. Eventually I was at peace and went back to sleep.
The next night it occurred again, and when I went back out to the sofa to listen for God’s word, I was led to call a Christian Science practitioner, who was most loving and agreed to pray with me. The thought came that this was an opportunity to dig deeper and understand my unbroken relationship or oneness with God. This was a goal I had set for myself prior to the previous year’s Christian Science association meeting, when our speaker had asked us to face down one lie about ourselves. I had chosen to face down the lie that I could be separated from God.
When I spoke to the practitioner the next day, I asked her to support me in understanding my spiritual relationship to God, instead of focusing on the coughing. We prayed about this together, and she provided many helpful ideas. Over the next several weeks the coughing abated and I was free.
During those weeks, the practitioner had shared several insights. One of them was that there really is no evidence that God is ever absent. There may appear to be this suggestion, but it is not evidence, since God is, in fact, all presence—the only presence, filling all space, always—and I am one with God, good.
About a month later, the condition returned. I called the practitioner, who explained that the problem had no starting point, since it was a lie in the first place. I pondered Christ Jesus’ statement, “There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed” (Luke 12:2). Whatever needs to be revealed is known by God. And what was revealed is the truth that I am in fact God’s loved child, able to fully and freely express divine Spirit in all ways.
The problem disappeared, and it has not recurred. Healings in Christian Science give us opportunities to discover the spiritual truth about ourselves, to feel and know our oneness with God. And for this I am most grateful.
John Lavrakas
Newport, Oregon, US
