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You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p208: 29)
Archive for June 2021
The Impact of Thought on the Body Leave a comment
Spiritual Fitness Leads to Physical Fitness Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
When my son was growing up we had a friend who often went on camping and hiking holidays with a group of long-time friends. Once or twice a year he would invite my son and me to join the group. I’ve never been a sporty person and being really physically fit has never been a priority for me but I do love the outdoors and these trips offered a welcome break. I had a very busy job working 50-60 hours a week in a largely sedentary occupation. When I wasn’t working, my life was filled with chores. In fact the only regular exercise I had was doing the vacuuming.
On one occasion, when my son was eleven, our trip took us to a beautiful gorge in Queensland. The first day out walking was to be a warm-up day of about 10 kilometres. The track was rough in some places and there was a lot of climbing over rocks and obstacles. My little ‘girly’ walking boots lasted about half an hour before the sole detached from the body of one shoe and this made the rest of the walk that day somewhat difficult. However, I was determined to enjoy the day and I did. I hadn’t brought a spare pair of walking shoes with me, but my son had and he was happy for me to borrow them. Even at that age his foot was huge and his boots were about three sizes too big. Still I was determined to make the most of things and I developed a new style of walking that accommodated the oversized shoes.
The next day the group had planned a 22 kilometre round trip up the gorge to some Aboriginal caves. This route, they told me, was rougher than the first day – it involved much climbing over huge boulders and up inclines. These other people were experienced walkers and they set a very brisk pace. At first I was concerned about how I would go. Would I be able to keep up with my oversized shoes and my lack of fitness? I quickly stopped these negative thoughts. I may not be physically fit in the usual way but I was spiritually fit. Despite my busy life, I did always find time for prayer, for drawing close to God. I knew that my true identity was spiritual and a spiritual being doesn’t suffer from muscle fatigue. The Bible tells me that I am the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1: 26, 27) and as God is never worn out, nor could I be. I trusted these thoughts and felt buoyed by them. The day flew by and I kept up without any difficulty.
When we got back to camp that day my son and another boy, who was a few years older, asked if they could go down and cool off in the little creek nearby. We agreed so long as they stayed together. The rest of the group talked about how exhausted they were and sat with their feet in buckets of cool water saying they didn’t think they could walk another step. I didn’t feel the need for a bucket of water but I was happy to sit and chat. Shortly the older boy came back without my son. Apparently the little creek wasn’t very exciting but some other children had told them about a place down river where there was a high rock that you could jump off into a deep pool. My son had gone to investigate. The older boy didn’t go because the pool was another two kilometres away and he didn’t want to go that far. I set off to find my son. I found him at the pool and he was happy to return with me. We walked the two kilometres back chatting happily about the day. When we returned the others were still recovering. They decided that the next day would be a very short walk.
I can honestly say I felt no ill-effects at all from any of our walks that week. I enjoyed every minute of it. I proved to be as fit as the others who led much more active lives than me. I totally put this down to my spiritual approach to activity. Whatever it is right for me to do I can do when I claim my spiritual identity.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is the textbook of Christian Science. In it Eddy states: A mortal man possesses this body, and he makes it harmonious or discordant according to the images of thought impressed upon it (p208). Holding in thought only images of health – images of myself as a perfect child of God – allowed me to experience the full enjoyment of this wonderful opportunity.
Honest Achievements Leave a comment
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The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p199: 21)
I Walked Away Unhurt Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. (The Bible -Psalm 119: 117)
Today in casual conversation with a friend the subject of cars came up. We were exchanging stories about how we came to have our present vehicles, and what previous cars we had. We discovered that we had in the past the same make of car which we really enjoyed because it was a road hugging car in which we felt very safe. I related that my car previous to this one had been written off with me driving and how I had been protected through this experience.
I would like to share my story with a heart full of gratitude to God, good, that I was not hurt, but walked away from the scene totally unscathed. The country road that I was travelling on was very well known to me as I used it daily travelling to work and home again and at weekends when I went out.
I was living rurally at the time in a hilly area and the road was winding down towards the township. There had been a lot of rain overnight which had caused a pothole to form in the road and I did not see the hole as I came around the bend. One wheel of the car hit the edge of the pothole which caused the car to spin. I found myself unable to right the car as it spun to the other side of the road facing the opposite direction and over on its side.
As the car was flying through the air, with anything loose in the car flying about as well, I heard myself shouting out, “God is my life, God is my life, I cannot be separated from God, my life.” When all the spinning was over I was able to climb out of a door and proceeded to walk home which was probably about a couple of miles away. Even this was taken care of, as at that time a neighbouring farmer and his wife came driving up the road and took me home.
My husband and I had then to do the calling of the police and arrange to get the car back on the road. I had been on my way to church at the time where I had a duty to perform. After ringing to make my apologies I decided that I may as well bake a cake which I had intended to do when I got home from church anyway.
There were no after-effects from this experience. In fact it did not occur to me that there could be until the next day at my place of work someone commented that at least I should have had a headache as the result of the incident. The protection was complete as I turned to the presence of my Father-Mother God as the source of my life. My subsequent car was the road hugger which I enjoyed driving for a good number of years.
All power unto our God is given, on Him we place reliance. (Hymn 10 – Christian Science Hymnal)
Spiritual Healing – Available to All 2 comments
Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings
This recording is of readings on the topic of Spiritual Healing.
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Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sickness, but you have divine authority for denying that necessity and healing the sick (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p390: 20).
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Every Wednesday at 6.15pm a Testimony Meeting is held at the Christian Science church in Canberra (corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets, Barton). At these meetings short readings on a particular topic are followed by time for members of the congregation to share how they have been helped and healed through prayer.
Everyone is welcome. If you are in Canberra on any Wednesday, please join us.
Eye Health Restored – Cataract Gone 1 comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Early last year I needed to have my reading glasses replaced and this meant having an eye examination for a new script. At the end of the examination the optometrist informed me that I had a cataract forming on my left eye. He said that he wouldn’t recommend any treatment at that point but in a year I should look at having it removed.
At first I was tempted to feel concerned about this situation. I had quite a few friends who had had cataracts surgically removed and although they had all said it was a fairly straight forward procedure, it was not something that I had ever contemplated doing. I have always handled problems, both physical and otherwise, through prayer.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is my textbook for life. In it, Mary Baker Eddy writes: Mind, not matter, is causation. … You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness (p208: 25). She goes on to say: The physical affirmation of disease should always be met with the mental negation. Whatever benefit is produced on the body, must be expressed mentally, and thought should be held fast to this ideal (p392: 11). I thought on these ideas and every time my eye situation came into thought I claimed my spiritual perfection and denied the necessity for giving in to this verdict. This brought me a sense of peace and within a short time my eye stopped bothering me and I forgot to think about it anymore.
Recently when I again visited the optometrist for new glasses I was told that my eyes were perfectly healthy and there was no sign of a cataract. Christian Science is teaching me that the body is the representation of my thinking – what I believe about it is what I will experience. By learning to see myself as spiritual, not material, I can overcome beliefs of limitation or ill-health
Safe on the Australian Waters Leave a comment
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A Daily Lift by Sharon Rooker-Brade, a Christian Science nurse.
Australian waters are well known for their sharks. In this 3 minute talk Sharon describes how her encounter with sharks on the open waters of a bay in Western Australia ended harmoniously.
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A new 3 minute inspirational talk is shared each day Monday-Friday. To listen to more click on the Daily Lift tab in the menu above.
Money Worries – A Thing of the Past Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
When I was growing up money always seemed to be in short supply. There were many, many evenings when my mum had only toast and Vegemite for dinner because there wasn’t enough food to go around. As a child I watched my mum, who was normally a strong, calm woman, weep because there was no money for the electricity or to pay for the groceries. This left me feeling scared and as though life was jeopardous. I felt as though I was vulnerable to forces outside of my control.
As an adult I seemed to take many of these fears about finances and supply with me. Even though I had full employment, and sometimes more than one job, for many years I felt as though I was always borrowing from Peter to pay Paul; shuffling money around in order to pay the most pressing bills. There came a time when the burden of school fees and a mortgage was more than I could manage and we sold our house and moved to a smaller place further out. Still there never seemed to be quite enough.
In my study of Christian Science I had learned that all right ideas were God’s and that God as the divine Father-Mother supplied all that was necessary for those ideas to come to fruition. I had also learned that supply and demand were a part of the one Principle (a synonym for God) governing all; they were reciprocal and inseparable processes. One day I sat myself down and decided that it was time to let go of this false fear. I asked myself whether I really believed these spiritual statements and believed that God was my loving parent who knew and responded to my needs, or not. I had, over the years, had many other healings both of physical and work-related problems that showed me that God was real, and that the love of God was a principle to be counted on. I reviewed the evidence I had of this divine care and I decided that I did really trust in these truths. When I reasoned like this the fear seemed to melt away and it felt as though this huge burden of many years had been lifted off me.
From this time on I never again struggled to pay the bills. The money coming into the home had not changed and the outgoings remained the same but somehow when bills arrived there was always enough to meet them. Nowadays, I don’t worry at all about how much is, or isn’t, in my bank account. I know, because I have proved it, that if there is a need God will meet it. I have discovered that divine Love (another name for God) has a multitude of ways in which to meet the human need. This sense of God’s sure supply has given me a freedom that allows me to be generous towards others, to support worthy causes and so share Love’s wonderful abundance. I continue, every day, to be grateful to God, and to Christian Science which teaches me the power of spiritual reasoning.
Christian Science Canberra 