Diagnosed heart murmur healed
As I watched my son play little league baseball, I rejoiced. Two years earlier, I’d been told by a doctor that he should never play sports again because of a heart condition.
At that time, I’d taken my son to the doctor’s office for his school vaccinations. My husband, who is not a Christian Scientist, asked that our children be vaccinated, and I wanted to honor his request.
The doctor examined my son and, as he was listening to his heart, said, “Did you know he has a huge heart murmur?” He then began to tell me all of the physical causes and diseases associated with this condition. He also told me that my son would never be able to participate in sports. Although I appreciated the doctor’s concern, all the “what ifs” about my child’s health came into my thought, and fear set in. At the conclusion of the appointment, the doctor advised me to take my son to a heart specialist for further examination.
Once I arrived home, I told my husband about the doctor’s comments, and we agreed to set up an appointment with a specialist for the following week. In the meantime, I wanted to calm my own fears, so I immediately called a Christian Science practitioner for prayerful support. The practitioner and I talked about trusting my child’s health to God, his divine Parent. A few hours later, praying with this idea, I headed out of town for my annual Christian Science association meeting.
Since I was away for a few days, I had plenty of time to pray. In fact, I prayed constantly and continued to think about trusting my child’s well-being to God wholeheartedly. I felt I had to take a mental stand for my son’s perfection. While I was studying the Bible that weekend, I found a passage that states, “Ask me of things to come concerning my sons” (Isa. 45:11). The “me” in that sentence especially stood out. Before walking into the heart specialist’s office the next week, I wanted to feel confident that I did not need a confirmation of health from a doctor, or any other person, about my son. Instead, God would tell me what I needed to know about this child’s perfection as His reflection.
I also asked myself some tough questions such as, If my husband came to me and said, “Let’s cancel the doctor’s appointment,” would I be all right with that? At first my answer was a panicky no. But gradually, as I trusted what I was learning about God’s care, the answer became a joyous yes. I prayed to know that this experience could be an opportunity to express my God-given capabilities to be a healer, and witness His work in action.
I also prayed to challenge fears and well-known assumptions about human heredity because years ago I’d been told that I had a heart murmur.
Over the years, through my growth and study of Christian Science, any concerns about this condition had naturally disappeared. When I was pregnant with my children, standard exams often included physicians listening to my heart, and no abnormality was ever detected. To me, this had been clear proof of God’s healing love.
And so, in this case, I prayed to know that my son’s true spiritual identity was a direct result of his being God’s reflection. I also saw more clearly that my son was not a possession of mine. He did not belong exclusively to me, but was God’s child. My son and I had both received our heritage from our Father-Mother God.
Several psalms from the Bible inspired me, especially Psalm 119 which is full of references to “heart,” such as, “I will praise thee with uprightness of heart,” and “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes” (verses 7, 80). I also studied Mary Baker Eddy’s comments about “change of heart” in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896. She stated: “… there must be a change from the belief that the heart is matter and sustains life, to the understanding that God is our Life, that we exist in Mind, live thereby, and have being. This change of heart would deliver man from heart-disease …” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 50). Gradually, I began to glimpse the truth in that statement.
As my spiritual study continued, I realized that God was the real authority on the health of my son. I saw that I wasn’t handling a “heart problem” but the suggestion that any of God’s children could be less than whole, complete, and satisfied. Every time fear would knock on the door of my thought, I would immediately pause and pray to better understand God’s allness. My son did not live because his heart beat; rather, his heart beat because he lived.
Every time those “what ifs” crept into my thinking, and nervousness and emotion tried to gain hold, I replaced those suggestions with what I knew to be true about God’s constant care. I realized that there would have to be something unknown for me to be nervous. Since God was communicating to me all I needed to know, there was no reason to be nervous.
While I studied and prayed, there was no sense of heaviness, which I’d sometimes experienced on previous occasions when I’d prayed about a problem. There was only a constant sense of joy, knowing that I was making progress in understanding the source of my son’s health. Before the planned visit to the heart specialist’s office, I felt I’d already arrived at the knowledge that my son was completely well.
I took him to see the specialist a week later. After running several tests, doing sonograms and an EKG, the specialist found my son to have a “sound heart.” I was grateful to be able to report these results to my husband.
But the healing hadn’t been in hearing the doctor’s confirmation that my son didn’t have a heart murmur. It had been walking into that doctor’s office with the knowledge that God had already confirmed the wholeness and perfection of His son directly to me.
Kaki Green | Acworth, Georgia, US
This testimony appeared in the Christian Science Sentinel. The statements made in these testimonies with regard to healing have been carefully verified by those who know of the healing or who can vouch for the integrity of the testifier.
Comments:
1. anonymous Says:
why didnt you get a second opinion from another physician? Did you yourself hear the heart murmur? how do you know for a fact that your son had a heart murmur to begin with? Did you see any other doctors or physicians (other than the specialist) before going to the specialist? It could have been faulty equipment or an echo of somekind producing a phantom sound?
2. Amy Says:
Hi —
Great questions. I understand your skepticism. I didn’t write the article so I can’t speak to the specifics of this experience, but I can tell you about one of my own.
I was in the hospital after having a baby. The day I was to be released came, but so did an incredibly high fever – 107.9. I was obviouisly really ill and the hospital staff was working “feverishly” to help me. My husband – who is not a Christian Scientist – was in the room and he knew how serious it was. In fact, the nurses were asking him to pitch in and help them. I’d passed out, but at one point became conscious and I asked my husband to call the practitioner who’d been praying for me and our baby throughout the pregnancy. He got him on the phone and held the receiver to my ear. The practitioner told me, ““‘Perfect love casteth out fear’ and your life just increased in love one hundredfold with the birth of this baby.” And right then—that instant—the fever broke and I was well. I felt an incredible sense of love, beyond anything I’d ever felt before, and I knew that it was God’s love for me. What happened was clearly a surprise to the nursing staff and my obstetrician. They’d envisioned brain damage at best.
Hospital staff actually came in to see me throughout the day because what happened was so unexpected. Did they think I was healed because of God? Maybe not. My husband said that he could see that something happened, but he couldn’t say what it was. No one at the hospital told me that they attributed the change to what they were doing or even to what nature could do. The body doesn’t normally work the way mine did that morning. Anyway, I wrote about this experience in an article for spirituality.com so if you want to read more, you can click here: http://tinyurl.com/2gtsdf.
But I guess what I’d say to you is that what told me that I’d been healed wasn’t even that the fever broke and I was well, it was this intense feeling of divine Love, and that’s tough to describe with words. You know, spiritual healing itself is tough to describe. It’s kind of like talking about sugar. You can hear someone describe what it looks like, feels, like, tastes like, but until you’ve actually tasted sugar for yourself, you don’t know what sugar is. I think that’s why someone who hasn’t been healed spiritually can’t wrap their mind around the possibility. The description doesn’t ring true because they haven’t experienced it. But spiritual healing is available to everyone. You can explore it for yourself without harm and with the possibility of lots of benefits.
3. Kaki Says:
Thank you for your questions concerning the testimony. As I am the writer of the testimony I can give you a little more information. I originally took my son in to see my husband’s general physician to get vaccinations and this physician heard the heart murmur. He checked my son several times with different instruments. I did not ask to hear the heart murmur as I have learned in Christian Science not to rely on what the senses tell me about myself but to trust what God is telling me about who I truly am from a spiritual point of view. The general physician sent me to see the specialist. In Christian Science the physical healing is always the “bonus”. The healing of the heart murmur was a symbol of the true healing which was a change of character. Part of what I did not write in the testimony was how I worked with the word “murmur”. I looked up the word in the dictionary and it said “low complaint”. I found that I had been constantly complaining to myself (in a low voice) about everyone around me, especially my husband. So, instead of complaining I decided to be grateful for each thing that was said or done by my husband and I carefully watched my thought. I loved more. The “low murmuring” (complaining) stopped. Because the true healing was a change of character and letting God be the authority on my son there appeared a physical change in the form of healing. Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is a wonderful book if you are looking for answers. Hope this helps.
4. best Says:
Thats right.
5. Joe Says:
Thank to all who posted here. It was very encouraging to read about the method each of you used to accomplish a healing. I was told recently that I have heart “damage” and a blocked artery. The doctor said he wants to insert a “stint” in my artery to relieve the constriction. I asked if there were any less obtrusive treatments and he said there were none once it gets to this stage. I was very depressed because I have been a runner all my life and I thought it could never happen to me. But the test show damage and my symptoms, which have been very alarming seem to confirm the test results. Now I feel I am faced with a decision. If I allow the procedure, I will have a foreign object in my circulatory system and was told that I will require medicine for the rest of my life. If I choose Christian Science treatment, and it is not successful, I could die leaving my wife and three children without financial support. It is a tough call for me. When the nurse practitioner showed me the images indicating 70% blockage and I told her I wanted to think about it, she seemed very concerned that I would even consider waiting. She asked, “What would your wife say?” It has been about 6 months now and I have been feeling tired. The symptoms are sometimes very scary. I am beginning to read the Lesson Sermon provided On line. I have waxed and waned over the years in my adherence to Christian Science . No one in my extended family are friendly toward this theology so sometimes I feel alone. I don’t have a community of people to lean on who believe in the voracity of this method of healing. I still don’t know what I am going to do, but when I searched the web using key the words, “heart condition”. “healed” and “Christian Science” I found this thread. Thanks for posing it.
6. Blog Administrator Says:
Joe–
You might find these testimonies helpful: “Diagnosed heart trouble healed and “Healing the heart.” There’s this article too: Effective help in a desperate moment. And because you’ve been reading the Bible Lesson, you’re probably familiar with these citations from this week’s:
Ps. 38:10 (to :), 21 — “My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: . . . Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me.”
Ps. 31: 21 (to :), 24 — “Blessed be the Lord: . . . Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.”
Science and Health 373:22-2 — “Establish the scientific sense of health, and you relieve the oppressed organ. The inflammation, decomposition, or deposit will abate, and the disabled organ will resume its healthy functions.
“When the blood rushes madly through the veins or languidly creeps along its frozen channels, we call these conditions disease. This is a misconception. Mortal mind is producing the propulsion or the languor, and we prove this to be so when by mental means the circulation is changed, and returns to that standard which mortal mind has decided upon as essential for health.”
7. Joe Says:
Administrator,
Thank you for posting the testimonies and the passages from the Bible and Science and Health. I have been working with this idea from Science and Health:
“Remove the leading error or governing fear of this lower so-called mind, and you remove the cause of all disease as well as the morbid or excited action of any organ. You also remove in this way what are termed organic diseases as readily as functional difficulties.”
I have discovered over the years that, for me, fear often accompanied my illnesses. With these recent heart symptoms, I noticed that if I become fearful, it is worse. If I am angry or stressed, the symptoms are aggravated. I guess you could argue that this might be entirely consistent with conventional medical or psychological theory, but I gained my incite into the connection between fear and disease through my acquaintance with Christian Science, not medicine.
I can’t find the passage but I believe it was in last week’s bible lesson that I read something like- you shouldn’t give in to disease any more that you would give in to sin- I know that if I were tempted to take what isn’t mine, or to hurt someone, or do engage in any number of behaviors that I recognize as sinful, I would have pretty high confidence that I would overcome the temptation. I think Mrs. Eddy is trying to tell us to treat disease the same way. We don’t have to be afraid of it because it is not legitimate. Of course that is easier said than done. I am still struggling with this heart challenge but it does tend to focus the mind and to force one to decide what is really important, especially if one thinks that death is a serious possibility. I’m still working on this through Christian Science. Thanks for the response.
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