Vision difficulty healed

For several years I would sporadically experience a blurring of vision. Most often the vision would clear up after 15 minutes, but then I would be beset with a headache for sometimes two hours following, which would only be relieved by vomiting.

Each time, I would pray to have a more spiritual sense of vision. Through Christian Science I had experienced so many breakthroughs after praying and listening to God that I was convinced it would bring about a cure in this instance also. Furthermore, I felt that my prayer was a chance to understand my relationship to God more clearly, not merely to heal a vision problem.

At one point my husband, who is not a Christian Scientist, asked me to see a doctor. Wanting to calm his concerns, I complied. The doctor said that I should avoid certain foods. I also went to an eye doctor, who gave me a prescription for glasses, suggesting that this might alleviate the problem. But I never got the glasses, nor did I change my eating habits. Instead, I returned from these appointments with a renewed commitment to curing the condition spiritually.

Off and on I asked a Christian Science practitioner to help pray for me, and I found great solace and a solid foundation for my prayers in the weekly Bible Lessons from the Christian Science Quarterly. I began to see that my real being was always in reflecting God and in God’s omnipotent care. My view of myself as God’s divine child could therefore never be blurred or obstructed. In studying Christian Science I had learned to hold to the creation of the universe as totally good, as is recounted in the Bible, in Genesis 1. I never grew tired of acknowledging this truth about God’s creation. And when I realized that this goodness applied directly to me, in this instance, it was like a watershed of revelation. I saw that my being and identity remained unchangeable and complete, as God made me to be. I just loved recognizing this and thanking God for making me in His image and likeness.

Each time I prayed with these healing thoughts and insights, I found that the symptoms stopped, and then for a long time they did not recur. Some months later, however, my family and I went on a long-anticipated trip to California. And on the second-to-last day I experienced another headache and blurred vision. I was put off by this because I knew from previous healing experiences that a condition that is healed spiritually and scientifically is healed for good. I realized that this relapse was nothing but a suggestion, a lie about my identity. It was waiting to be overturned. It could never become the truth, even if it appeared to be so.

So I reapplied my healing prayer, claiming my God-given dominion over anything that God had not made. I prayed with a practitioner to understand more clearly that I was one with my heavenly Father. No separation had ever occurred between God and me. I also worked to see that the condition was not a punishment or consequence for anything on my part—it had no physical cause or moral impetus, because God was the only cause of life and He caused nothing but good.

I did not have any of the symptoms that used to follow the onset of blurred vision. And I began to rejoice in the freedom.

When I was beset with blurred vision one more time, it was as if I saw myself completely protected by the angel thoughts that came to me from God. One of them was this: “No power can withstand divine Love” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 224). My understanding was ready to yield to divine Love. I felt so loved and cared for, much like Elisha must have felt when he was surrounded by the Syrian army. He asked God to open the eyes of his servant, who was afraid. And he assured his servant, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” What a command over a seemingly desperate situation! Then “horses and chariots of fire” appeared as protection from the enemy (see II Kings 6:1–23).

Shortly after, when I picked up a book to read, I realized that my vision was clear. And no further symptoms followed. In the Christian Science Bible Lesson that week, I read a passage that illustrated what had happened to me, referring to the angels Michael and Gabriel: “These angels deliver us from the depths. Truth and Love come nearer in the hour of woe, when strong faith or spiritual strength wrestles and prevails through the understanding of God” (Science and Health, p. 567).

My desire to express an understanding of God had prevailed, and because of this I have experienced full freedom from this condition for over a year. I feel so grateful to Mrs. Eddy and her tireless commitment to discovering and upholding Christian Science.

Kacy Valentine | Columbia, Maryland, US