Archive for the ‘Prayer and animals’ Tag
Gratitude for Lessons from Nature Leave a comment
Prayer for the Neighbour’s Dogs Brings a Harmonious Solution Leave a comment
About three years ago a young mum moved into the house next door to us. She had a couple of children, a cat and a dog. Soon her friend moved in too and he brought with him a tiny pup. These were both outside dogs but they had provided no shelter for them. They lived largely without human interaction in the bare backyard and it was the middle of a fierce and wet Canberra winter. In the mornings this tiny short-haired puppy could be seen sleeping curled and shivering in the long frosty grass. During the blustery winter days he cried and cried. When it rained he tried to stand under the larger dog for shelter and together they looked soaked and miserable.
I found this very difficult to witness day after day and I became incensed with indignation.
I succumbed to the error of believing that evil existed – in the form of my neighbours and that there were places where Love – another name for God – did not exist. If I believed that the neighbours were cruel and unloving then I was believing that God wasn’t all. I had to choose which idea I believed.
But, I didn’t want to let go of that indignation – I found it very difficult. But Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, tells us in her textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:
Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good (p393).
It was Spirit, God, who gave me the strength to resist this faulty thinking. I knew that there was no place where God was not. The Bible tells us that man is made in the image and likeness of God … of Love. The real man could not be unloving. So I held to this truth about man and acknowledged God’s love for all His creation. This dissolved the indignation. Within a day of this turn around in thinking the dogs were being invited inside and for the rest of the winter they were given shelter and companionship.
I have learned never to underestimate the power of practical applied scientific prayer!
This post was submitted by Deborah Packer of Canberra, Australia.
Ben’s Story Leave a comment
Sometimes life throws up situations where you have to stick to what you understand to be true, even if the physical evidence is saying something else. I suppose that’s a bit like Copernicus, when he was starting to realize that the earth rotated around the sun, and not what was commonly thought, he had to use his scientific understanding and not the popular opinion or even his physical senses.
I’ve had experiences, simpler, humbler ones, where I’ve had to stick to a spiritual understanding of what was going on and not just accept the outward sense of things. One of these times was when my dog, Ben, was hit by a car.
Ben had suddenly spotted by husband across the road and run straight out into the path of a car. The car, a huge four-wheel drive, had hit him, spearing him into the ground, the full force being taken by his head. And although there were only a few external abrasions, it was obvious something serious had happened to his skull. We took him home and I began to pray immediately.
Now my younger daughter was, at that stage, growing up and she was making her own mind up about things, and we’ve always respected our girls’ rights to think differently to us. And she felt very strongly that we should take him to the vet. She was actually shouting at me, and it was not easy, but I over rode her objections, and I did this for several reasons. I had more faith in God than in man. I had seen so many healings in my life, particularly of animals, that I had absolute confidence that the dog could be healed, but also I actually did not think that he would survive through any other means. So I just went to God for help.
I prayed through the night to know only what God would know about the situation, to know that His divine care was ever present and all powerful, that divine Love did not cause this accident so it had no divine authority, that His almighty care surrounded us and governed the scene with harmony. And as the day dawned, it suddenly became clear that I absolutely believed, and understood, God’s unwavering, unchanging love for all of His creation; that the Ben’s life was safe because he had always been in God’s care, and I knew it and I believed it and understood it more than what the physical senses were telling me.
Shortly after, my daughter came in to check on him and he leapt straight up into her arms perfectly well and happy, with all symptoms and pain completely gone. And within two days even all evidence of the abrasions was gone. But, as importantly, my daughter received the evidence that she needed as well.
This article was submitted by Beth Packer, a Christian Science healer from the South Coast of NSW, Australia.
Christian Science Canberra 