I was out for a walk in a public garden one cold winter day, when a squirrel ran up to me. He got up onto his haunches and begged me for food. I happened to have a small bag of unsalted peanuts in my pocket, and I was so taken by his sweet face that I couldn’t help but offer him one. He quickly took it and ran off, but other squirrels in the park started to come up to me. Before I knew it, a scuffle broke out that resulted in my hands being badly bitten and scratched. I stood up, shaking a hand vehemently and telling one squirrel that was hanging on with his teeth and claws to let go of my thumb! Finally, he did. Both hands were bleeding badly, so I covered them to prevent further loss of blood.
I wondered where to get help and remembered that a building management company was nearby. As I started in that direction, I met two employees headed back to work there and they immediately offered to assist me. I cleaned up in their facility while they found some bandages and helped me apply them. They were very concerned as I continued to bleed through the bandages and said they thought I would need stitches and a rabies shot. I was so grateful for their care, and immediate help. I felt love for all they were doing in their kind actions, and I assured them I would get it taken care of.
As I left to go home, I thought about what they had said, but then another thought came to mind: I could be healed through prayer as taught by Jesus and explained by Mary Baker Eddy in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. I knew there were Christian Science practitioners who could help me with this type of healing prayer and Christian Science nurses who could support me with bandaging the wound. I humbly asked, “God, what should I do?” Then I listened. That’s when this line from the Bible came to me: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10), followed by the ideas from Isaiah 41:10: “I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Immediately, I felt peaceful. I was not afraid and wasn’t thinking about my thumb or hands. Instead, I was thinking about “righteousness” and what it means to me: that God is only good, right, pure, kind, and caring. I thought of God’s “right hand” of righteousness leading and guiding my every step.
Then I thought about the squirrels and how much I still loved them. I saw them as innocent and playful. Science and Health explains, “All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible” (p. 514). I knew that in truth squirrels couldn’t hurt me, and I couldn’t hurt them. I felt such love for them and the employees who had just helped me. I felt loved by God, as if I were held in a warm embrace.
When I got home, I went to wash up and put on new bandages before taking any other steps. But when I removed the old ones, the wound on my thumb was completely and perfectly closed, and there was no more bleeding. All I could see was an inch-and-a-half line—I could hardly tell it had been injured! Within two days, all evidence of a wound and scratching was entirely gone.
I learned several things from this experience:
First, I learned how important it is not to be overcome by fear. When I wasn’t afraid, the result was this quick and rather dramatic healing.
Second, I learned the importance of focusing on God instead of the wounds. Science and Health talks about looking away from the body to Truth and Love in order to experience health (see p. 261). Rather than focusing on the body, I was more focused on the love I felt from God and the two people who were so kindly caring for my well-being. They were expressing love in the best way they knew how.
Third, I saw the importance of being humble and still so that I could hear guidance from God, divine Mind. I turned wholeheartedly to God without any preconceived notions about what should happen.
Fourth, I learned that God is an ever-present help, always there when we turn to divine Love for aid.
All this brought peace and left no room for fear. As it says in First John 4:18: “Perfect love casteth out fear.” I experienced the loving, healing presence that makes disease “vanish into its native nothingness like dew before the morning sunshine” (Science and Health, p. 365).
I am thankful to God and for the love, health, and joy that He provides. I am also grateful for Mrs. Eddy’s devotion to sharing the Science of the healing Christ. The Church of Christ, Scientist, she established provides many avenues for helping humanity gain a better understanding of God and His healing power.
Margee Lyon
Boston, Massachusetts, US
