Several years ago, after conducting the Sunday service as substitute First Reader at my branch Church of Christ, Scientist, I tripped going down the steps from the Readers’ platform, slamming my head and side against a wall and landing hard on the floor.
Immediately, I mentally said, “No!” remembering that accidents are unknown to God and His children. And I was grateful for the metaphysical support of the Second Reader. I knew we were both keeping our thoughts on the truth that I am a spiritual, unfallen expression of God, and not on the picture of injury that the material senses were presenting.
I was dazed and in pain and so I sat quietly praying. Soon I felt clearheaded enough to walk to my car unassisted and drive home.
However, by the time I arrived home it was difficult to walk, so I texted a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. She assured me that I had never left God’s everlasting arms of Love. It was five days before family was to arrive for Christmas, and I still had a lot to do. But the practitioner helped me see that I could release any feeling of responsibility regarding the planning for the holidays, and instead trust God’s ability to care for all necessary details. The Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly that week had some especially relevant and inspiring passages, which also sustained me.
The weather report for Christmas predicted ice and snow, and my family, who knew nothing of my situation, decided not to come but instead to have a Zoom get-together. This enabled me to have time to pray.
I was filled with gratitude for the inspiration and prayers of the practitioner; for the support of my fellow church members, who took on my various duties; for being able to hear our church services online; and for the love and care of my husband, who supported my desire to work things out in Christian Science.
There was much spiritual growth going on in the weeks ahead, and although the physical healing was not quick, I made steady progress. I was looking forward to giving a testimony about the healing at church; however, that same week I tripped over my cat in a dark hallway, landing hard on my right knee and leg. I again contacted the Christian Science practitioner, who reminded me that God had control over the body, church, government—over everything! I became more confident in denying any reality to accidents and affirming my unfallen status as God’s perfect child, knowing it is “impossible for man, under the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his high estate” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 258).
The many wonderful, healing thoughts that came to me as a result can be summarized in one simple affirmation: There is only one God, and there is no other law but His.
When back at church in my post as an usher, the suggestion came to me that the full healing of my leg would need time, as my lower leg was still swollen and discolored. But on the heels of that thought came the realization that healing is not the result of the passage of time but of spiritualized thought, of a deeper, improved understanding of God’s law of perfection.
I gained much courage and inspiration from Hymn 51 in the Christian Science Hymnal, particularly this verse:
God could not make imperfect man
His model infinite;
Unhallowed thought He could not plan,
Love’s work and Love must fit.
Life, Truth and Love the pattern make,
Christ is the perfect heir;
The clouds of sense roll back, and show
The form divinely fair.
(Mary Alice Dayton)
I also pondered this passage in Science and Health: “Immortal ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious results” (p. 259).
One definition of demand is to insist on immediate obedience; it is something not open to appeal. I saw that what was demanded of me was to persistently see my spiritual, unfallen status as God’s child and not let a false, material concept of myself enter thought. And that is what I was doing.
A day or two later, all signs of discoloration and swelling disappeared, and I walked freely. To me, it was a marked turnaround in thought and physical evidence. The healing has been permanent.
I am grateful for this opportunity to understand more clearly God’s complete, perfect creation, and to see and know my spiritual selfhood as perfect and enduring, upright and free. I am indebted to Mrs. Eddy for her discovery of Christian Science, which she made available to the world, and I am grateful for Christian Science practitioners, who dedicate their lives to helping those who call on them achieve healing.
Judith L. Farringer Paul
Corvallis, Oregon, us
