Early in my public practice of Christian Science, someone called me late one night to see if I would pray for a woman (a Christian Scientist) who was only semi-conscious and delirious. I agreed to pray for her and set at work to understand more fully that God is Life.
First of all, I needed to challenge the fearful thought that she was at death’s doorstep and that somehow I had to save her through prayer. I was thankful to have learned that students of Christian Science don’t pray by mulling over the patient’s circumstances or the problem. We pray to let God show us more about His allness. In this way God is seen as the only “issue” involved in healing. Mary Baker Eddy states in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony” (p. 390).
So I prayed until I felt joyously aware of God as the only Life, and of this woman as the necessary expression of Life. Then I went to bed.
