Healings of Flu and Burned Hands and More

The most precious thing in the world to me is the small understanding of God I have gained through study and practice of Christian Science. Feeling close to our Father-Mother God has brought me many healings throughout my life.

One of the first healings I remember occurred when I was of grade-school age. While burning some pine needles, I also burned my finger. I recall being told to hold my hand under cold water to ease the pain; I did that for a while, but as soon as I turned off the water the pain would return. I thought the pain would take a long time to go away, and in response to this concern I thought, “I don’t have to worry about having this pain for a long time; God is taking care of me, and this can be healed by turning to Him and knowing the truth about who I really am as God’s perfect child.” This kind of thinking resulted from my having attended a Christian Science Sunday School. I had learned what Jesus taught: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John).

Something I heard every week in Sunday School was “the scientific statement of being,” read from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. I began repeating that to myself and thinking about what it meant. It starts out: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all.” That made sense to me, and the pain went away immediately.

Since then I’ve had many instantaneous healings of burns in particular. Each healing made me more sure that I could not be harmed in that way, and the fear of this became easier to deal with. One time while still young, I slid off the seat of a motorcycle and severely burned my leg on the hot exhaust pipe. I was in a lot of pain. I remember turning to God confidently in prayer, and once again the pain went away in a short time. A scar that remained eventually disappeared completely. Another time I was over at a friend’s house making candles, and the wax ignited in the pot on the stove. Rushing to put it out, I held the pot of flaming wax under a faucet. When cold water hit the wax it exploded, and burning wax went everywhere, including halfway up my arm. I turned away immediately from the pain and appearance of a burned arm. I mentally refused to give in to the underlying suggestion that there had been a moment when God was not in control and that this had resulted in harm to me. I knew I was His child, made in His image and after His likeness, as it says in the first chapter of Genesis.

When my friend noticed the serious nature of the burn, she was afraid for me. Through my prayer I had already destroyed any fear, and had found my peace about the situation, confident of complete healing. So I was able to assure her that I was all right. (Later she told me I verbalized this with such conviction that her fear and concern vanished at that moment.)

I continued to pray while cleaning up things in the kitchen, turning wholeheartedly to my Father-Mother God to make clear to me once again that I was truly the child of His creation, wholly spiritual and not material, never subject to accident, harm, or pain because I reflected only His ever-present goodness and perfect being. As I turned away from the injury in this way and just listened to God through spiritual sense, I felt His presence and knew I wasn’t hurt. There was no more pain, and I shortly forgot all about the burn on my arm.

Another time I went over to my brother’s house to meet my family for lunch. There I suddenly became nauseous with symptoms of the flu. All I felt like doing was going home to bed. Instead I decided to take a stand and fight this condition, since I had learned that sickness is no part of God’s creation. I saw this as just one more opportunity to prove God’s power and presence to be true.

We were going to sit down to eat within the hour, so I excused myself so I could pray rather than just let this illness run its course. The temptation was to find a comfortable place to read and pray. But it came to me that I could not deny I was ill (something I would be doing through prayer) and then pamper myself in any way which would contradict that decision. So I took the nearest chair, which happened to be an uncomfortable wooden one, and began to pray the Lord’s Prayer fervently.

I had to keep fighting the temptation to go be comfortable somewhere. Quite a battle took place for me in that room; it was a battle between what the physical senses were telling me was true and what I knew to be true from the teachings of Jesus and from the explanations of Christian Science, which I had already proved to be practical in my own life.

I read from the Bible and Science and Health, which helped give me inspiration to pray. I was striving to see clearly the spiritual truth about my perfection and health right then and right there, right where imperfection and sickness appeared unavoidable and very evident. For much of the time I felt myself getting worse, but within the hour (and before everyone sat down to eat) the fear of sickness had been conquered, and I was instantly well. Earlier I hadn’t been sure I would be able to stay for lunch or eat anything, but I did eat heartily and rejoiced in the feeling of God’s great love and ever-presence.

The healings I have experienced have not only been related to sickness and accidents but also to financial, business, and relationship problems. Much more important than the mere outward evidence of these healings is my growing sense of God’s realness and nearness, and the increased sense of joy, peace, and love that I feel for all daily.

Mary Baker Eddy can’t be thanked enough for sharing her discovery of Christian Science unselfishly with the world.

Originally published in the Christian Science Sentinel, April 5, 1993.