One morning in December 2021, I was busy getting a project finished, when I found myself on the floor and realized I had fainted. I was able to get to my cellphone and call a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. Then I got myself into bed and was in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day.
A son from another state was due to come and visit me a few days later. He came and took care of me for the next week, for which I was very grateful. He tested me for Covid and I tested positive.
The dear practitioner contacted me every day and shared ideas for me to ponder in prayer. They were very helpful and certainly eliminated the fear that I had immediately felt upon waking up on the floor. Also, before my son arrived, I hadn’t been eating, and that prompted the practitioner to bring some food to my door.
A few days after my son arrived, another family member, observing pandemic protocols, came and asked me if I wanted to have the Christian Science Bible Lesson for that week read to me. Up to this time I hadn’t been awake a lot and hadn’t read the Lesson, which was very unusual for me. I had faithfully read each week’s Bible Lesson, given in the Christian Science Quarterly, every day for many years.
As this family member read to me, I suddenly became very alert and began pondering the truths contained in the Lesson. It opened a door for me. I started seeing things differently, without the physical symptoms being so vivid. It wasn’t just a physical healing; it opened my eyes in many ways. Very shortly afterward I was up and out of bed and back to normal activity. I was healed—totally free!
After this healing my question was, What had come out of this experience? The answer was the realization that God truly is All and I’m not an individual separate from Him. In reality, I am God’s constant expression, always one with Him. His divine messages are right with us all the time. We just have to be listening for them.
I started waking up every morning with the thought, “Love alone is Life,” from a poem by Mary Baker Eddy called “Love” (Poems, p. 7). I realized that it is extremely important when we first awake in the morning to turn thought to God’s allness.
We can hear God when we shut our mental door on the sense of ourselves as material, separate from Him. We are never, ever separate from God. We are completely embraced in Love all the time. He guides us, He governs us.
Just reading and accepting these truths isn’t enough. We must live them and love them and depend wholly on our dear Father-Mother to direct all our ways. Listening for and accepting God’s guidance helps silence the opposite suggestions that come to thought.
Also, I’ve been spending a lot of time studying the true meaning of Love as one of the synonyms of God. Seeing myself and everyone as immersed in this precious Love has been very rewarding.
Although I’ve had many beautiful healings through Christian Science over many years, this one in particular was such a milestone for me and has continued to keep me growing and blossoming in my alertness and closeness to God.
I always thought I truly believed what is taught in the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy, but we have to go further than believing it. We must pray to understand it, feel it, and obey it. This enables us to demonstrate it. I keep discovering every day more of who I really am and my precious relationship to our Father-Mother God.
Donna Matteson
Portland, Oregon, US
I am the family member mentioned who decided to go to Donna’s house to read the weekly Bible Lesson to her. I went because of what we were hearing regarding her condition from my brother-in-law, who was there caring for her. He was very concerned about her. The family was fearing that Donna might pass on from this illness. But while I was there, after I read her the Lesson, she got out of bed, went upstairs, and was already showing signs of improvement. I was very grateful to see this!
Robin Matteson
Hillsboro, Oregon, US
