THE ABILITY of Christian Science treatment to heal quickly and completely was proven to me early on in my study and practice of Christian Science a number of years ago. I had been studying Christian Science for only about five months when, the day before Christmas Eve, our two-and-a-half-year-old son became sick with a fever and couldn't move from the waist down. I immediately called a Christian Science practitioner for treatment for our son. I made frequent calls to the practitioner during that day and night as I stayed close by my son, holding him, singing hymns, praying, and comforting him.
The next morning, my husband, who was not a Christian Scientist, spoke to the Christian Science practitioner. When he got off the phone, we discussed what course of action we should take. My husband needed to go to a nearby market to buy food to take us through Christmas day. We agreed that if our son was no better by the time my husband returned, we would take our son to the emergency room of the local hospital.
My deepest concern and my husband's was to relieve our son of this illness and as quickly as possible. Although battling my own fears of what this condition might be, I felt confident that Christian Science treatment could thoroughly and quickly heal our son. I had already begun to learn from my study of Christian Science that disease of any kind is not the reality of anyone's being, because God has created all of us in His likeness—the likeness of perfect Spirit, not imperfect matter. I had already glimpsed the fact that fear, instigated by the material senses, is the source of sickness and suffering and not God, who never causes His children to suffer.
Even in my infant understanding of Christian Science, I knew that turning thought to God, good, and away from the fear and evidence of disease can so transform thought that a condition that appears very real to our human senses can simply disappear—even in an instant. I made our son comfortable in his little bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. Standing in front of the sink, I turned with all my heart to God, to the understanding that God's all power and presence could open my eyes to be fully aware of the wholeness, the perfect health, of my son whom I felt certain God had created as a pure, perfect spiritual idea and not as a mortal, vulnerable to debilitating disease.
Within those few moments of turning my thought wholeheartedly to God and away from the fear of disease, our eight-year-old daughter woke up. Unaware of her brother's condition, she bounded into her brother's room, plunked herself down on the bed next to him, and laughingly pretended she was an elephant. I could then hear her clomping around the room and laughing. After a few minutes, I heard him giggling with her. My heart leapt as Christopher sounded so much better. Shortly after this, I heard a lot of clomping around, and realized that he was out of bed! Now they were both laughing uproariously as they played together.
All of a sudden Christopher came sliding down the stairs on his tummy and came leaping and hopping into the kitchen. "I healed, Mommy!" he gleefully exclaimed. At this very moment, my husband returned from the store, and the practitioner, who had driven from his home 30 minutes away, arrived at the same time.
Christopher was joyful, freely moving about, hopping up and down, the fever completely gone. My husband and I both began to cry in gratitude for this amazing change in our son. The significance that this day was Christmas Eve was not lost on us as we gathered in the living room to rejoice together with the practitioner at this wonderful healing. We all felt deeply touched by this evidence of the healing Christ so quickly freeing this dear child of illness and giving our family an unforgettable and deeply meaningful Christmas.
This precious experience became a landmark in my understanding and practice of Christian Science.
DORCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, US
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To believe in minds many is to depart from the supreme sense of harmony. Your assumptions insist that there is more than the one Mind, more than the one God; but verily I say unto you, God is All-in-all; and you can never be outside of His oneness.
—MARY BAKER EDDY
(Unity of Good, p. 24)
