A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra offered this testimony of a recent healing.
A couple of weeks ago I played in a golf competition at a golf course in near home.
It was a team event played in teams of 4 over 18 holes of golf.
My team was finishing up on the 16th hole when I heard a loud shout followed by the sound and impact of a golf ball hitting the back of my hand. Someone from another team had hit a wayward shot.
I jumped around shaking my hand, my team-mates and the guys from the team that hit the wayward shot rushed to see what had happened.
There was concern that my hand might be broken, that I should leave and have my hand looked at, that we should immediately get ice to put on my hand.
While there was pain, I was mainly affected by the shock of the sudden and unexpected impact.
I don’t remember what I was thinking at the time, but I do remember becoming calm and reassuring everyone that I was okay and able to complete the last two holes of the competition.
I had previously been thinking about the reality of harmony and unreality of discord that had been in the weekly Bible Lessons around that time. So, as we continued, I started praying with the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer – “Our Father which art in heaven – Our Father Mother God all harmonious” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p16-17), and tried to hold to the thought that there is only harmony.
While we were sitting having drinks in the club house after the game, I remember being aware that the pain had lessened and only concerned me if the back of my hand came into contact with something, but there was swelling and bruising.
I drove home and continued to pray “Thy kingdom come” – to know that we all live in the kingdom of heaven where all is harmonious and there is no pain or any other discord.
Over the next few days, I prayed with ideas from the weekly Bible Lesson.
Since the incident happened, I have in no way been restricted from using my hand and the swelling, bruising and any pain disappeared over a few days.
I’m very grateful for this proof of the power of prayer to heal and God’s presence and care for me and everyone.
A member of the Canberra Christian Science community, currently living overseas, shared this testimony which was printed in the July 31, 2023 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
I was introduced to Christian Science by a friend who regularly gave me copies of the Sentinel. I really liked what I was reading because it spoke of God as infinite Love, in which evil has no place.
I was reluctant to pursue the study of this Science at the time, as I believed the religion of my upbringing to be the one true religion. But the Christian Science publications nevertheless piqued my interest in things spiritual, and I was inspired to start reading the Bible, something I had not done before. Through this reading, I was coming to know and trust God better as divine Love. …
…Since beginning the study of Christian Science, I have had a number of healings, one of which is particularly dear to me. I had been drinking alcohol since the age of seventeen.Continue reading …
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra shared this experience where prayer eased her fear and a beautiful bird found its strength.
I’d like to share a lovely experience I had recently.
To set the scene, my lounge room has two large picture windows opposite each other facing east and west respectively and the sun was shining through the eastern window where I was sitting reading the Weekly Bible Lesson on the topic of ‘Truth’.
My attention was suddenly interrupted by a very loud bang against the west facing window. Guessing that a bird had lost it’s way, I went over to see if help was needed and saw that a beautiful Eastern Rosella was lying spread-eagled amongst the plants in the window box.
He was still breathing and opening his beak.
I resisted all temptation to go outside to provide any physical assistance. Instead, I stood still and prayed with the Scientific Statement of Being, knowing that it was true for him. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, p468).
I went back to my study of the Bible Lesson, praying with helpful passages by adding the thought of all God’s creatures where man’s being was addressed.
For example, from the Bible:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. …For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; … (Galatians 5:1,13)
And from Science and Health:
The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, p516:4)
After about half an hour, I went back to the window and found that the patient was still there still in the same state.
To my relief and joy, as soon as he heard me say ‘’Oh you’re still there”, he – quick as a flash – flew away … no struggle or tentativeness … free as a bird.
In the words of Hymn 136:
I love Thy way of freedom, Lord, To serve Thee is my choice, … (Christian Science Hymnal, No.136)
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra was recently interviewed for a Sentinel Watch podcast titled Listening to God.Click here to listen to this podcasts.
How do you listen to God? And what can you expect to hear when you do? This week’s guest shares ideas from her own journey of learning how to listen—and the healings that have resulted.
A member of the Canberra Christian Science community had this article, Immortality Glimpsed in Dog’s Healing, published in the October 22 issue of the Christian Science Journal. Click here to listen to, or read, the full story.
Reggie, an elderly dog we adopted, was a member of our family until last year. We loved him dearly and he lived with us long past the life expectancy of a dog of his breed.
Gradually last year I noticed that he was slowing down and sleeping much of the time. It was starting to feel as if Reggie might be about to move on.
One Saturday morning he was in a long, deep sleep. He couldn’t be roused, and he had lost control of his bodily functions.
I’ve been a Christian Scientist all my life and it is natural for me to turn to God in prayer when I need answers, so I sat on the floor beside his bed and turned to God. “Tell me how to think about this,” I asked. Continue reading …
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra offered this account:
Last year, my husband and I went on a road trip to visit our children and grandchildren, who live in various parts of the greater Sydney area. While we were visiting one of our daughters on the Northern beaches, we decided to go out and walk wherever our inclination took us, leaving our daughter at home to work.
It was a beautifully sunny day and we had walked, probably for a couple of hours – through the golf course, along the beach, up to the headland, and we were walking back into town for lunch when, quite suddenly, my husband seemed to collapse. He was shaking uncontrollably and didn’t seem able to stand on his own.
We stopped still, and immediately I planted my feet physically and mentally, and supported him – declaring aloud, while absolutely knowing and feeling, that all he could be was an expression of God, an expression of Spirit; that God was his life, the only Life there is; that he didn’t live in a physical body, but in God. I know he was also praying because he was declaring aloud truths about himself that he had learned in a Christian Science Sunday School.
In an instanthe stopped shaking and stood upright, and we walked on. We still had quite a walk ahead of us but we never mentioned the incident again, just felt immensely grateful and awed at the power and presence of God.
Strangely enough, when this occurred, we were walking through the grounds of the local hospital, but there was never any suggestion of calling for human help or needing any other assistance. God’s presence is always with us and his help is always close at hand.
I have given this experience a lot of thought since then and it has impelled in me an ever-greater desire to understand, trust and be more constantly aware of God, infinite good – to really know God as Love; to strive, as Paul says in II Corinthians (5: 8), to be ‘absent from the body and present with the Lord’ and (II Corinthians 10:5) to bring ‘into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’
When trauma seems to have so many lives in its grip, how can we respond in a way that heals, both individually and collectively? Kate walks us through her own healings of trauma to show what Christian Science makes possible.
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra offered this account:
A couple of weeks ago I came home from shopping to find that our small dog, Tess, was unable to use her back left leg and it hung awkwardly when she tried to walk. I took her out into the garden to see if she might be persuaded to stretch it out and use it but she wasn’t able to.
I carried her inside and together we sat on my bed and I turned silently to God. I was brought up in Christian Science and I have witnessed many healings of both animals and family members and I knew that this was a quick and effective way to meet this need. However, as I sat with her it became very difficult not to be alarmed by the material picture. She seemed to be in so much pain that she was vomiting and just couldn’t settle. I knew that I would not let her remain in this situation and the thought kept coming to me that I should take her to the vet. She seemed so tiny and defenceless and my heart went out to her.
Through experience I also know that prayer in Christian Science gives quick results with no waiting and no side-effects. If this was the case then controlling my thought and handling the situation through prayer was the kindest course of action. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the textbook of Christian Science and in it Mary Baker Eddy, the author, advises:
I determined to look away from the material picture and ask God what I should know about this. The inspirations came. I knew that there is more to life than the body – that all life is God expressed and God is Spirit which is never damaged, is never vulnerable. As I thought on these and other ideas I found my peace and Tess began to calm. Shortly, it felt right to get on with the evening chores. When I stood up to leave the room Tess jumped off the bed and followed me. She was trotting along using all four legs easily. During the night and the next day I watched her racing around and playing happily. There was no trace of any difficulty. I am very grateful for all I am learning through the continued study of Christian Science.
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.
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their healings and thoughts on Christian Science:
A poem by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, helped this writer over come the stress of a crowded work agenda. The poem, titled Satisfied, has been set to music and included in the Christian Science Hymnal.
It matters not what be thy lot, So Love doth guide; For storm or shine, pure peace is thine, Whate’er betide.
And of these stones, or tyrants’ thrones, God able is To raise up seed — in thought and deed — To faithful His.
Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence! Our God is good. False fears are foes — truth tatters those, When understood.
Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, Ayont hate’s thrall: There Life is light, and wisdom might, And God is All.
The centuries break, the earth-bound wake, God’s glorified! Who doth His will — His likeness still — Is satisfied.
Towards the end of my employment with the Department of Education. I had a very busy job; most weeks I put in 50-60 hours and still didn’t feel on top of the workload. One evening a friend gave me a ticket to a Music Aviva concert because he thought I could do with a break. However, my head was so filled with all the tasks I had to complete in the next few weeks that I heard nothing of the music and went home feeling still very much under pressure. At home I sat down and made a list of all the activities I had to organise before the end of the school term which was coming up fast. I thought this might help clear my head. In all I had 26 events to organise. Some were staff meetings I had to give, others were full day workshops and training days, some were mediation and review meetings. I had very little clerical support so all of the organisation fell to me – the catering, the bookings, the paperwork, the course content.
Writing it all down didn’t help at all. While I was doing this my son called me. He was living interstate at the time. He asked if I would pray for him with regard to a physical problem that was restricting him somewhat. Of course I was happy to help him, but it felt like just one more thing that was asked of me.
In desperation I turned to God and asked: ‘How do I do all this?’ The answer was very firm: ‘You don’t. I do.’ This idea had and immediate calming effect. I felt led to open my hymnal to hymn 160 – Mary Baker Eddy’s Satisfied. The words were like a balm to my soul. The ideas held such comfort that straight away I felt the sense of pressure drain away. I knew I was safe because “God able is”. I realised that all right activities were God’s activities, and He was the one that brought them to fruition, not me.
It was the fourth verse that particularly stood out to me:
Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, Ayont hate’s thrall: There Life is light, and wisdom might, And God is All.
As I read these words I felt lifted above the human picture that said I had an impossibly crowded agenda. I actually felt the lightness of Life – lightness as in not heavy. I also saw that Love loosed my son from his belief of restriction. I was able to let all sense of personal responsibility go and rested in God’s love.
The next day I had a phone call from my son to say the physical problem was completely resolved. He was very pleased. All the activities I had scheduled were completed successfully and I can honestly say there was not a moment of pressure or stress. Every event or activity was a joy in its preparation and unfoldment. Not since that night have I ever felt pressure over human activities or schedules again. Always now I know that ‘Love doth guide’ and ‘God is gloried’ and I am satisfied.
Christian Science Canberra 