Persistent prayer brings healing

About ten years ago, I became aware of an ongoing soreness in my throat. At times, it was very painful, while at other times I was hardly aware of it. The discharge of a very unlovely substance accompanied the condition.

Throughout my life, I’ve turned to prayer for all my needs, including physical needs. I’ve always been grateful for the spiritual regeneration and reformation of thought that bring healing. So I started to pray diligently, as I’d learned to do in Christian Science.

A few times, when the condition worsened, fear and despair would get the better of me. During those times, I wondered if I should get a physical diagnosis. However, I was convinced that the medical name and treatment of the condition would not help me in my desire for a deeper understanding of my relationship to God. And I wanted to see healing through spiritual means alone.

I held to two lines from Hymn 182 (by Richard Trench) in the Christian Science Hymnal: “Make channels for the streams of Love, / Where they may broadly run ….” It seemed important for me to open my life to Love’s presence in a much deeper way than I had previously. The Apostle Paul says in Romans that we need to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” (Rom. 12:2). I reasoned that by dwelling on more Godlike qualities in my thought, and expressing them, I could expect my body to evidence more harmony.

Throughout this time, I continued to expand my sense of God’s love for me and my reflection of that love. The Bible told me that “we love him, because he first loved us” (I John 4:19). I saw that I came forth from Love and that my entire being was for the purpose of glorifying God’s love.

At various times, I asked for help through prayer from a Christian Science practitioner. At one time, the practitioner asked me if I felt I’d had many difficult situations to endure. I had to honestly answer yes to that question. This required me to turn sincerely to each of those situations and see them in the light of what God knew. I realized that, as an idea of God, I never could have been outside of Love, that my experience was always a channel for His love, and that this was also the truth for everyone I held in thought. I was able to look at several past heartaches and put disappointments aside, by seeing how Love had cared for me and my family.

I continued to pray and allow these spiritual concepts to deepen in my thought. I felt I was making progress, and the symptoms lessened, although they did not entirely go away.

Then, this past winter, I was skiing in Canada with my family. One particular day, I was skiing alone and encountered a total white-out condition at the top of the mountain. In near panic, I turned to my deep conviction that God was there with me and that I couldn’t be separated from Him, as I was God’s very expression right where I was, on top of those skis. That profound truth humbled me in a more penetrating way than ever before. I felt the power of the Bible words “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5). My fear left, and I was able to listen to God, and felt His guidance as I safely made my way off the mountain.

That deeper intimacy with God, through feeling my oneness with Him, stayed with me and opened up my thought to see more clearly my spiritual identity as complete, whole, and safe.

A month or so later, I suddenly found I could sing in church, swallow, and talk unhindered. I realized that all the symptoms of the throat condition had vanished. I was completely free. It was as if the gentle dawning of my true identity had simply lighted up my thought. The dark belief that Love could ever have been limited or restricted was replaced with the Christ light.

Elizabeth Crecelius Schwartz | Menlo Park, California, US