A Daily Lift by Deborah Huebsch, a Christian Science practitioner and teacher.
In this brief podcast Deborah relates how one of her beloved horses was diagnosed with an incurable kidney condition. She describes how she prayed and how this passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy helped her. Three months later the vet announced that there was no longer any trace of this condition.
The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind. p162
In this short podcast Amy, who is a full-time Christian Science healer, tells how she overcame a debilitating pain that limited her movement. She describes how spiritualising her thought about herself led to a quick recovery.
In this short podcast Andrea describes how hearing a story about a wedgetail eagle in Australia taking down an expensive drone gave her pause for thought. She realised that she also could say NO to unwanted thoughts and situations: “You don’t belong here. I’m not afraid of you!” She goes on to describe how this reasoning helped her to quickly overcome a debilitating physical condition.
In this brief podcast Russ describes a day when he woke up and couldn’t move. He tells how turning his thought to God and himself as God’s image brought about an instant healing.
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
One of my roles in the years just before I retired was to organise the annual regional conference for the large state government department I worked for. These events were attended by over 300 participants and included one main keynote speaker and approximately 48 breakout sessions. Planning took many months. In order to secure an exceptional keynote speaker, it was necessary to book at least twelve months in advance.
This particular year I managed to secure a booking with someone I knew to be not only at the forefront of his specialist area, but an excellent and engaging speaker. He was pleased to be asked and at the initial interview we discussed a timeline for when he would give me details of his talk and materials for hand outs etc. During the year we touched base a couple of times and all seemed to be going to plan. However, when we were about a month out from the event he still hadn’t given me the material I was expecting and wasn’t answering my calls or emails.
Eventually I managed to make contact with his support staff. They said that he had been in hospital with a very severe case of pneumonia and even after a couple of months he was not well enough to be back at work. I said I would make contact again in a week or so to see how he was progressing. This time I managed to talk to the speaker himself. He said that although he was still very ill and weak he felt sure he would improve enough to be able to do the talk. We touched base several times over the next couple of weeks but his health was not improving. He seemed keen not to let me down and said that he would bring his wife to support him and possibly do the talk sitting down. He thought then he might possibly manage. This was still the situation, the day before the conference and it was extremely tempting to be very worried. I did not want this dear man to jeopardise his health but I also knew that the opening address was a very important part of the conference.
I have been raised in Christian Science and I’ve learnt over many years that there are spiritual laws that can be relied upon when challenges arise. So I prayed to see things from a spiritual, rather than a human perspective. I knew that this conference was a right idea. Among other things it was an opportunity for participants and presenters to share ideas that worked and to collectively rise to higher levels of performance. I knew that all right ideas are God’s because I have come to know God as infinite Mind and the source of all good. I have also come to know God as Love and that Love is not just a feeling but a divine law. This law ensured the safety of all; this law held everyone in their right place and maintained harmony. I thought on these and similar ideas until I felt a sense of calm – a strong sense that all was well. The night before the conference I slept peacefully expectant of good unfolding.
The following evening was the meet and greet and the conference opening dinner. When I arrived the hall was already abuzz with excited participants. Quickly I noticed that there was quite a gathering of people over near the bar. In the centre of this someone was holding the floor and entertaining a small crowd. As I moved closer I realised that was my keynote speaker. He greeted me with a huge grin. ‘You wouldn’t believe what happened’, he said. ‘You know how I’ve been so sick for the last few months. Well last night, it was like a switch flicked and instantly I was completely well. I haven’t felt this well in years. Look at me now!’ His excitement and enthusiasm spilled over into the group and he continued to entertain them. Needless to say his talk was a great success, as was the rest of the conference.
Every day I am grateful for what I am learning in Christian Science. It teaches me to be calm in the face of challenges; it teaches me to turn away from the human scenario and to acknowledge the spiritual truths; it teaches me that there are spiritual laws that apply to all life and if understood and trusted these laws will adjust any discordant situation.
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Just before the lockdown began, I came down with a chest infection. If I walked upstairs or tried to talk, I coughed uncontrollably making it very difficult to hold a conversation, talk on the phone or take part in online meetings. It was also difficult to sleep at night. To allay the fears of family members who were concerned that I might be infectious and so should not be babysitting, I agreed to take a Covid test.
Throughout this time, I had been at home praying asking God to show me what I needed to know and not mixing with others. Eventually I remembered the statement in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, (p 420)
“If students do not readily heal themselves, they should early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid them. If they are unwilling to do this for themselves, they need only to know that error cannot produce this unnatural reluctance.”
I decided to contact a Christian Science practitioner who was unimpressed by the symptoms and likened the coughing to a “performance wanting to get my attention”. She assured me that “Spirit (my true substance) can’t irritate or distress itself” and agreed to pray for me.
That night I slept peacefully and in the morning I found a text on my phone saying that my Covid test was negative. Over the next two days, the coughing disappeared and I was able to fulfill care commitments for my family with no problem.
I am deeply grateful for this healing and for the lessons that I continue to learn from the experience.
A cherry on the cake came a few days later. I realised that my ribs were sore on one side – and found myself thinking that this was due to the violent coughing that I had been doing. I realised that as the cough had never actually been part of me, there was no reason for there to be any after-effects. I rejected the suggestion and concentrated on the reading that I was doing. When I had finished reading, I realised that all feeling of aching had disappeared.
This whole experience was really a ‘wake-up call’ – a nudge to draw closer to God and to feel his love not only for myself but everyone around me.
This recording is of readings on the topic: Spiritual Healing
(Apology: Nature in the form of a wild white sulphur-crested cockatoo has made his presence felt a little raucously on this audio.)
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Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, – neither in nor of matter, – and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p14)
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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.
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
A few years ago my husband wanted to give me a surprise for our anniversary. He knew I loved horses and that in my youth I had gone on a few short trail rides which I loved. This year he had the romantic idea that escaping our city life for a weekend of riding horses through the bushland in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney would be a good plan. My husband has never been a horse rider and knows very little about horses.
When he presented me with the gift vouchers I was filled with some very mixed emotions. I could see that he was trying hard to please me – that was nice. But, an eight-hour ride through very rugged territory, when I hadn’t been on a horse for about twenty years, seemed daunting in ways he couldn’t imagine. I prayed about this. I reasoned that all good ideas come from God and God’s ideas don’t have a downside. I also know that the beliefs I hold about life determine the nature of this material experience. I tried to stay focused on a conviction that my true nature is spiritual, not material. Only matter feels pain, not spirit.
My husband, as a novice rider, was given Fred, an elderly plodder. However, he had told the stables that I could ride well and I was given Jeda, a young thoroughbred-cross who really wanted to turn everything into a race. I’d been on the horse for about fifteen minutes when I realised that the saddle was horribly uncomfortable; it had two hard ridges that dug into the bones in my bottom.
During the eight-hour outing we spent nearly seven hours in the saddle. The countryside was amazing. We rode across green paddocks with cows, through mountain streams, up and down steep hillsides and along winding forest trails. It was truly beautiful. At every point in the day my Jeda wanted to race ahead and I spent the whole day calming her and reining her in. Even when we were waiting for slow Fred to catch up she pulled and pranced. She was exhausting!
It was late afternoon when we arrived back at our accommodation. I was so sore I felt physically sick. I fell on the bed and thought I would never be able to move again. Every muscle in my body screamed and protested. I thought I had mentally protected myself before the ride but I realised that I hadn’t really given up the idea that this activity could be punishing. In Christian Science, we are taught that what we let into consciousness, is what we experience. So while I lay there on the bed I had a mental reassessment.
A passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy helped me to gain some peace. She asks: Without mind, could the muscles be tired? Do the muscles talk, or do you talk for them? Matter is non‐intelligent. Mortal mind does the false talking, and that which affirms weariness, made that weariness (p217:31). I realized that I had given myself permission to be affected by this ride, so mentally I took back that permission.
Within a very short time I was up and getting cleaned up to go out to dinner. There was not a single twinge anywhere – I walked straight and tall and pain free. We had a happy night and the rest of the weekend was active and harmonious. There were absolutely no after-effects.
I am continually grateful to Christian Science which teaches me that I don’t have to give in to material laws. All right activity can be undertaken without penalty.
Christian Science Canberra 