‘I was completely healed’

Sometime during the last few years, one of my shoulders seemed to lose the ability to function normally, painfully restricting the motion of my arm. Ordinary activities became a challenge—unlocking the car doors on the opposite side of my van, dressing myself, reaching for objects in high places. Worse yet was the barrage of fearful thoughts that claimed this condition was “part of getting older,” “likely to spread and become worse,” etc.

I turned to my knowledge of God, gained from my lifelong study of Christian Science, and applied it through prayer. I understood that age is the product of a human belief in time and limitation, but as children of God we can claim exemption from this belief through understanding that God did not create limitations. God is eternal good; His idea can’t wear out, become decrepit or useless. Age and decay have no power over God or His idea—you and me. So I began praying by firmly claiming my identity as a child, or idea, of God. I denied that any fears could have power over me, and instead filled my thought with good.

Different passages from the Bible comforted me. For example: “The right hand of the Lord is exalted” (Ps. 118:16). Exalted can mean “raised” or “lifted up.” It helped me see myself as God’s reflection, lifted above matter, or illness. I asked myself, How could my hand, or reach, be lacking or limited, when I glorified God? Another helpful Bible passage was, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). This reminded me that time was not necessary to heal the condition (nor had time made it occur) and that whatever I needed to know in my thought and heart, God would clearly reveal to me.

I also contemplated these words of Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, where she explained the Science of spiritual healing as practiced by Christ Jesus: “Experiments have favored the fact that Mind governs the body, not in one instance, but in every instance…. Working out the rules of Science in practice, the author has restored health in cases of both acute and chronic disease in their severest forms. Secretions have been changed, the structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions” (Science and Health, p.162). This encouraged me because I saw that I did not need to fear that anything was beyond the ability of God to heal.

I was confident Christian Science could heal me. Nevertheless, the difficulty persisted. One day when I was tempted to be discouraged, I examined my thought to see if there was any misunderstanding that could hinder this healing. I realized with chagrin that I’d been constantly checking my shoulder to see if it had improved, thus trying to measure spiritual healing by a material gauge. But I’d been looking in entirely the wrong direction. Mrs. Eddy wrote: “Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually. The result is that you are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your life-work, and adopt into your experience the angular outline and deformity of matter models.

“To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives” (Science and Health, p. 248).

This time I followed instructions. I declared that I was perfect, right then, no matter what the material (lying) senses were trying to tell me. I affirmed that this condition had no cause, no validity, no past history, no future, and no reality. I refused to be impressed by its claims of limitation, and decided that from that moment on, I would completely dismiss it as unworthy of my attention, go about my activities as usual, and allow it no place in my thought. And I did. Soon after, I was completely healed.

Although I had to keep praying over a period of months, the difficulty vanished so absolutely that today I’m not even positive which shoulder was involved, as both function perfectly, without a trace of pain or limitation.

Teresa J. Allen | Dover, Delaware, US