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A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra submitted this testimony of healing:

I would like to share a healing that I had some years ago that has continued to bless me.

On this particular night, I had washed the removable covers from my lounge suite and spent about three hours ironing the damp fabric before refitting them to the lounge.  I had the iron on the hottest setting in an effort to smooth the creases out of the heavy damp linen.  By midnight I still had the covers from one chair to do so I decided to leave the ironing board set up so I could finish in the morning.  I turned the iron off and then the overhead light nearest to me.  This, however, was the only light that was on and I needed to walk back across the dark room.  I put my hand out to make sure I didn’t knock the ironing board over but instead put the full palm of my hand on the hot plate of the iron.  The pain was immediate and intense.

I had been brought up in Christian Science and had learnt that not looking at an injury helped to allay the fear.  I readied for bed without turning lights on and without using that hand.  I lay in bed with my hand hanging over the side of the bed unable to sleep and feeling overcome with the pain.  Although I thought of myself as a Christian Scientist at this time, I really didn’t live a Christian Science life.  I didn’t study and I really didn’t know how to pray.  I lay in bed feeling totally miserable.  I had taken on this task of washing the covers to distract myself from the sadness and loneliness that seemed to pervade my life at that time.  I was recently divorced, I had started a new job which I was finding extremely difficult and stressful, and I was living a couple of hours drive from my parents and friends in a part of the city that socially was very foreign to me.  Now I was in pain and feeling totally miserable.

I had been taught that God was Love and that this Love was a law that I could rely on.  I didn’t really understand this at this time but in my desperation I turned to this God with a simple:  Please help!  Almost immediately I felt calm.  Somehow I felt a sense of being loved and that all was well.  This warm gentle feeling enveloped me and I fell peacefully asleep.  When I woke in the morning there was not a single trace of the burn – no pain and not a mark on my hand.  I was very grateful and a little surprised.  God’s help was so immediate; I felt looked after.

After this, two things happened.  The sadness and loneliness dissipated.  I learned to rely more on God and came to think of Him/Her as my constant companion – as a guide when things seemed tough.  Also since then there have been several occasions when I have inadvertently handled hot things like baking dishes coming out of the oven.  Each time I have remembered this first healing and the fear of the burn has left and I have had no pain and no blistering or hurt.  Nowadays, although I am not foolish around hot things, if I do come into contact with a hot surface I tell myself:  ‘I don’t do burns!’ and that is the end of the matter.  I am so grateful for what I am learning in Christian Science.