Rash on face and neck healed

A couple of years ago, I was living and working year round at a Christian Science summer camp that was available for the public to use in the off season. During autumn, there was a large group renting the camp, and on an early Saturday morning, I’d scheduled a meeting with one of the leaders to go over logistics.

As I was getting ready for the day, I felt unusual tightness and some irritation on the left side of my jaw and neck. Since I’d grown a big bushy beard, I couldn’t see anything physically wrong when I looked in the mirror, and thought nothing more of it.

But when I walked into my meeting, the woman in charge of the off-season group said, “What’s wrong with your neck?” Looking in a nearby mirror, I saw a large puffy rash covering a large portion of my neck and jaw. Surprised, I excused myself from the meeting and went back to my cabin to pray. I’d relied on Christian Science in many aspects of my life before and told myself that I’d handle this problem by turning to God in prayer. I sat down and began to read the Christian Science Bible Lesson out of my Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. For the next couple of days, I dedicated time each morning and night to quietly praying in my cabin, acknowledging God’s loving presence and control in my life.

Monday evening came, and there’d been little relief from the inflammation and irritation. In fact, the rash was spreading and becoming more uncomfortable and embarrassingly noticeable. One of the staff members of the camp, also a Christian Scientist, suggested I call a Christian Science practitioner for some support. I decided I’d make a call the next morning.

That night, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, feeling frustrated, tired, and angry with my situation. Self-condemnation crept in, and I began to think I was a “bad Christian Scientist,” and had “failed” at understanding what I needed to know to experience healing. Lying there in the dark, I confronted thoughts like, “Why can’t I seem to do anything right? Why does prayer ‘never’ work for me?” Then I feared I might never be able to shave my beard off because of the ugly rash.

But through all the frustration, the story of Saul from the New Testament suddenly occurred to me. Saul (who later became the Apostle Paul) hated, hunted, and killed Christians. While on his way to Damascus, he heard the voice of the Christ and was struck blind by a bright light. Saul was later healed and transformed by this experience, and his name became Paul. As a changed man, Paul went on to lead a righteous life, and was one of the most loyal and enlightened disciples of Christ Jesus. It just took this one deeply profound healing, and he never again wavered or turned away from God as he experienced trials and tribulations while spreading the gospel.

I realized that throughout my life I’d been healed of illnesses, protected from injuries, had many resolutions in relationships and at school. After all the good I’d witnessed in my life, all the examples of God’s power and protection, why was I now agreeing with the lie that prayer “never works for me”?

My relationship with God, as His child, hadn’t changed. God never wavers in His love and never neglects even the smallest of His creations. As I considered the many healings I’d experienced in my own life, I began to wonder how I could doubt that the rash would be healed, as well. These realizations broke through the persistent thought that I’d ever been excluded from God’s care, and destroyed the fear that the rash could interfere with my life. In fact, I actually started laughing out loud because I realized that it was ridiculous of me to accept that God, being All-in-all, could somehow forget to take care of me. As I laughed, the fear and doubt both went away, and I fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up and felt no tightness or aggravation on the skin around my jaw or neck. As I was brushing my teeth, I looked in the mirror and noticed a mark on my face no bigger than the size of a dime. There’d been no need for the rash to gradually disappear, I thought, since it had never been a part of my true spiritual identity as God’s reflection in the first place. Since it was no longer an imposition on my thought, it naturally disappeared from my body as well. When I decided to shave my beard a day later, there was no evidence that there’d been anything abnormal on my neck or jaw.

Rex Nelles | Boston, Massachusetts, US