"...nothing inharmonious...

"...nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 228). Several years ago that statement was proved true to me. One night I woke feeling sick and unable to keep anything in my stomach. The thought of food poisoning came to me very strongly. My daughter, who was visiting me, woke to find me very dizzy. She began to pray with me.

In the early morning hours, we listened to the week's Christian Science Bible Lesson, which we had recorded earlier in the week.

Later in the morning the illness became more severe, and I called out to my daughter. Then, as she later told me, I appeared lifeless to her. For me all life in this world stopped, and I believe I had died at that moment. This was not a fainting experience; it was an experience I had never had before. This was not something associated in any way with life as I had known it.

Then I heard the words "God is Life," and, "God is your Life."

Because of my many years as a serious student of Christian Science, I was receptive to those words. They had special meaning to me. I had learned that God is Spirit, that He is not found in matter, and that, since man is made in the image and likeness of God and is His reflection, man must be spiritual and not material. So I knew that being the reflection of Spirit, my life could not be lost; I could never be separated from God, who is my Life.

Hearing the words "God is your Life" brought me to consciousness, and I thought of many proofs that I had witnessed of the healing power of Christian Science. More than fifty years before a neighbor had loaned me a copy of Science and Health after I had seen her son's hand, crushed in a car door, heal completely in just two days. I soon learned that God was my Life, and this understanding gave new meaning to my daily living. I learned also that God was my Father, Mother, Physician, friend, and companion. Soon I had discarded all medical aids, which had been so important to me, and had several physical healings shortly thereafter.

Having read Science and Health from cover to cover, I noticed that all fear was removed from my consciousness, and the subsequent birth of our second child occurred very harmoniously (the birth of my first child had been difficult for me, and had required several weeks of slow recovery). Then, after reading a particularly inspiring poem in the Christian Science Sentinel, I prayed to express more joy in my life. Soon I found myself healed of recurring headaches. A broken toe was also healed quickly. These proofs launched me into a lifetime of studying and practicing Christian Science.

So I was ready that day to accept that God is my Life. I woke in my daughter's arms. It was her voice that I had heard. We talked together about the mortal belief that man can be poisoned and destroyed by something evil entering his being. This was a false belief, a lie trying to be recognized as real. We recalled together these sentences in Science and Health: "Into the real and ideal man the fleshly element cannot enter" (p. 332) and "God could never impart an element of evil, and man possesses nothing which he has not derived from God" (p. 539). There is no opposing power to God's creation, which is complete and intact. God does not possess any ingredient of evil, and therefore His creation reflects uninterrupted perfection and wholeness. This was the truth that we declared as we prayed together. By persistently turning to God and clinging to all that we knew about the activity of God, peace came to my consciousness, and my life in Him became evident to both of us.

For the remainder of the day I rested and listened to recorded tapes of Science and Health. Toward evening I got up and styled my hair, so I would be ready for the annual meeting of my Christian Science association the following day. My daughter and I spent the evening quietly praying, rejoicing, and being grateful for the healing that we had witnessed that day. On Saturday I dressed for association, drove my own car, picked up a friend, ate a good lunch, and spent the whole day at the meeting. It was a joyous day.

The next day I was at church and spent the afternoon taking a friend who doesn't drive to do her errands. We didn't arrive home until around six o'clock. It had been another day full of good activity, and I had been free, with no lack of strength, appetite, or movement. My daughter and I are grateful for such a complete, rapid healing that included no recovery period.

This resurrection experience and my subsequent study and prayer have brought me a much better understanding that God is and always has been my Life, even during that interval in which I appeared to have passed on. This understanding has released me of all fear that any material condition has the power to end life.

I continue to drive, maintain my own home, and to have the same active life that I have had for more than eighty years. Most of all, I love helping others through prayer. For all of this and more, I am truly blessed.

Geraldine Loucks
Tulsa, Oklahoma

I had been staying with my mother for a few days just prior to my own association meeting in the same city. When I woke to find her so ill, I remembered I had read this poem earlier in the week, entitled "The Practitioner" by Rosemary C. Cobham:

That week's Bible Lesson contained an observation about Jesus from the book of Mark: "For he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes" (1:22); also a passage from page 26 of Science and Health: "Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does for man." These statements gave me much confidence during the hours that followed.

When mother's illness became more severe, she called my name. I saw that she was losing consciousness, so I took her in my arms and held her tightly. Then, it seemed to me that she was no longer with me —that there was no life in her. I recalled what I had read in that poem, about being "Christ's ambassador" and about speaking "with authority." I spoke very firmly, with the sense of authority that comes from God to each of us, and said aloud, "Mother, God is Life! God is  your Life!" I remembered the many years that my mother and father had trusted God as "a very present help in trouble," and, with confident expectation, recalled the Bible passage from Hebrews "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (4:12). I remembered that my father had lived a full and active life for more than thirty years, after being healed of the effects of a heart attack. When in his eighties, he had no longer required reading glasses. Previously my mother's unwavering trust and confidence in God's ability to heal had brought her freedom from what we believed were a broken hip and pneumonia.

My husband and I had raised two sons while relying entirely on prayer for the health and well-being of each family member. After the many proofs of God's healing power I had witnessed in my life, it was very natural for me to lean on and to call on God for help now.

Everyone has a direct line and connection to God; "Before they call, I will answer" (Isa. 65:24). God never puts us "on hold," never is too busy helping others, and never asks us to call back later because He is on another call. Prayer in Christian Science is recognizing God as omnipotent good, ever present, and full of compassion. God is perfect, and His creation must be perfect also. We are maintained in His absolute goodness. Paul taught that we are all ambassadors of Christ, serving God. We all can speak with the same authority that Jesus did, prove that "with God all things are possible," and demonstrate that the healing power of the Christ has never been lost and is ever available.

For about five minutes I repeated firmly and loudly, "God is your Life," until it became apparent that my mother had begun to breathe again.

There was a copy of the Christian Science Hymnal nearby. Remembering that Mary Baker Eddy's poems in the Hymnal add inspiration to Christian Science church services, I read all of the hymns aloud that had words by Mrs. Eddy. I finished with the poem "'Feed My Sheep.' "It gave me a clear sense of the Shepherd gently and lovingly caring for His flock.

I continued to hold and support my mother in my arms. I saw our reflection in a nearby mirror, and the thought came that, instead of my supporting her physically and metaphysically, there was only one Shepherd, tenderly caring for, supporting, and guiding both of His sheep.

We were both able to attend our separate meetings the next day. When I thought about my mother, it was comforting to know that God was caring for her, just as He was caring for me. I trusted our prayer by knowing that, as God is unchanging good, we express His perfection permanently.

As my mother has said, our weekend was busy after our meetings, with visiting, dining, and helping others. After I returned home to a distant state, my mother's health remained excellent, and she had a houseguest visit for two weeks. One relative commented during a stay with mother that she was like those batteries that just keep going and going.

To witness this proof of the power of God, and my mother's confidence, trust, and receptivity to the truth, was an enormous blessing for me. I verify with joy this demonstration of God's allness.

Tanya Loucks Clayton
Perrysburg, Ohio