When I was five years old, my mother, brother and I fell ill for several weeks, and the doctor said that we kids needed to get our tonsils out. Mom regularly took us to the Christian Science Sunday School, but my dad was not a Christian Scientist, so the decision was made to do the surgery.
The doctors promised us as much ice cream as we could eat after the operation. But when I woke up, I was experiencing more pain than I had ever felt before—more than I had dreamed anyone could ever feel. They brought the ice cream, but I was frightened to even swallow, much less to put food in my mouth first. I refused to even drink water. Then I passed out from the pain.
That was the experience from my point of view. My mom, of course, was watching and was appalled to see both her children suffering so.
When I got older, she told me that it had seemed easier to just use medicine every time we were sick, because that’s what my dad used, and she didn’t feel confident in knowing how to pray for her children. But at that moment, seeing what we were going through, she determined she would never put us through such a thing again—from then on, she would rely on Christian Science.
A couple of days after we got home from the hospital, I came down with the mumps, which I had picked up in the children’s ward. My mom started praying, but felt overwhelmed.
As mom told me the story years later, she was working hard to keep my brother away from me, because the mumps were supposed to be a very contagious disease. But she had to leave my room to fetch something, and when she got back, he was standing beside me, drinking from my glass of water.
Just then the phone rang. In despair she went to answer it, and found it was my Sunday School teacher, who happened to be a Christian Science practitioner. This kind lady was calling because it had been a month and a half since we had come to class, and she wanted to make sure everything was OK.
My mom broke into tears, telling her the whole, sad story of us all being sick and we kids having surgery, and now, just when we got home, I had come down with the mumps and my brother had just drunk out of my glass and he was going to get them, too.
That dear, sweet lady listened to the whole thing with a Christly thought and said, “Christi doesn’t have the mumps and Carey’s not going to get them.”
And that was that. I was healed and my brother never got sick.
I am very grateful for this healing. It brought the practice of Christian Science into our home. Witnessing that instantaneous healing gave my mom the confidence she needed that she could trust her children to God.
Before this, whenever I felt ill, Mom gave me a tablespoon of terrible-tasting medicine and put me to bed. I remember just lying there, feeling sick, and wishing I didn’t feel sick.
But after this healing, I always found immediate help. If I told mom I didn’t feel well, she would become very calm and quiet, put me someplace comfortable, and start talking to me about God. She would say simple things that a child could understand, such as: God is good, and He couldn’t make anything bad. And if He couldn’t make anything bad, then I couldn’t have anything bad. But she never spoke in a rote way. The words were different every time, but felt natural and suited to the situation. Years later, she told me that she would simply ask God what to say, and the ideas would just pour in. I remember those ideas feeling like cold water in a hot desert, and I always immediately felt better.
The trust in relying on God that I gained from those healings carried over into my adult life, and have led to more healings than I can count. For this I am very grateful.

Christi Lupher

Austin, Tx

One morning I was specifically praying about “more soul, less body.” The lesson that week was about Soul and Body, perfect for what I needed to work on. The golden text and responsive reading set my thought straight by declaring man as God-made, never alone without God, and guided and guarded by God. God believes in us, is rooting for us and is on our side always. Instructions to give gratitude, rejoice and share joy were also gleaned from those opening citations.

“Glory to God!” I shouted. We are so thankful

Davya Flaharty

While visiting my boyfriend’s home as a teenager, his grandmother had always reminded me to be careful going up and down the stair case off the kitchen as there had been an incident years before of a serious fall of a household member. Before I was alerted to this, we had had a conversation about church and my faith. She told me her mother had touched upon and studied Christian Science at one point. One weekend while stepping down that stair case, I seemed to slip and lose footing, down I went bumping my tail bone several times.  As soon as this occurred, I heard his grandmother running from the other end of the house to me and abruptly said;

“you better know what you are supposed to know.”

She was referring to Truths taught in Christian Science. One example is:

“There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter.  All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All in all.  Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal.  Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.”  page 468 of Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.

Her comment jarred my thought not to accept the fall and claim my freedom. I was able to get up and go about normal activity without fear or continued pain. I was so grateful.  “For the Word of God is quick and powerful.”

Deb Maleck

My oldest daughter, Patty, struggled with hearing loss in one of her ears when she was  about 5 or 6 years old. Prayerful support was given by a Christian Science Practitioner.  A Christian Science Practitioner is an individual who dedicates their time to healing prayer for others.  Practitioners are available to pray with anyone seeking healing through the study of Christian Science.

In the quiet hours of early morning my daughter was laying next to me as I was still asleep, she woke me up asking me,

“What do you want?”

She thought I called her name. I ,of course, reassured her to go back to sleep.

“It wasn’t me,” I said, thinking  she was probably dreaming.

Once again she woke with:   “What do you want, mommy?”

Again, I told her I did not call her. She replied,

“But I heard my name being called” she said.

I hugged her and told her: “Go back to sleep.”

For the 3^rd time she woke me,

“There it is again, I know you called me!”

I simply comforted her and said,   “It must have been God; it wasn’t me.”

When telling my mother of this occurrence, she reminded me of the story of Samuel in the Bible, when God called him 3 times. ( I Sam: 3)  I talked about this Bible story with Patty, she said,

“If I can hear God, then I can hear!”  The healing was complete.

-Deb Maleck

In the middle of the night, my cousin woke me up.  He said his baby daughter (who had been born prematurely) was barely breathing, and asked if I could come and pray with him.  I was instantly fully awake and praying.  The week at camp full of spiritual inspiration and study had me completely prepared to meet this situation.  My Aunt joined us as we all sat at the top of the stairs just at the spot where baby’s mom had sat down in despair. Gathered there closely together we shared ideas and prayed.  We started singing hymns.  Baby began breathing normally.

My cousin told me later that he had been very frightened.  This had happened before with his little girl and they had rushed her to the hospital. They were told her lungs were weak because they had not fully formed due to her premature birth.   This night at the lake cabin, we were over an hour from any hospital and we could either pray or the baby may die.   My cousin chose prayer.  I was so grateful that he had come to me and let me be a part of this circle of Love around his little daughter. Together, we proved the power of prayer that night.

Today that baby girl is a teenager and runs cross country races on her school track team.    – Karen McMullen

I experienced many healings as a young child, one in particular stands out. I was stepping down from a bike, with a pea-shooter in my mouth and some how bumped it on the way down causing most of this plastic item to pierce right down my throat, the picture was very alarming. My Mother quickly phoned our Christian Science Practitioner. I was comforted and the bleeding slowed down. It wasn’t too long thereafter, I was able to swallow more normally. A complete healing followed.  My mother didn’t feel it necessary to have the throat examined for reassurance. “God is always a very present help in trouble.”

Debbie Maleck

When my only child was about 18 months old, I suffered a condition where my monthly feminine cycle did not cease and the continual bleeding made me very weak and unable to care for my child. My husband was not a Christian Scientist and while he did his best to help  care for child when he came home from work so that I could have quiet time to pray, his concern for me was very great.

His fear was such that, even though I was working with a Christian Science practitioner on the matter, it seemed prudent to relent to the medical treatment that he began insisting on, and I checked myself into a local emergency room. I was diagnosed and surgery was prescribed, which I underwent. Because it was not my choice to undergo medical treatment, the practitioner continued working with me throughout to help overcome my substantial fear about being in a medical environment, having been a practicing Christian Scientist my whole life. She helped me see that love was being expressed by my husband and the medical staff and that I was never outside of God’s protective care.

After the surgery and a few days recuperation in the hospital I was pronounced normal and released. However, within a few days, the same condition returned. The medical procedures had accomplished nothing at all.

Now I knew that my opportunity was at hand to rely whole-heartedly on Christian Science for real and complete healing. I worked daily, and sometimes hourly, with the practitioner, who lovingly continued to help me see my present perfection and exemption from any abnormal condition of matter. I wrestled with ominous bouts of fear of dying, leaving my young child without a mother. And each time, she helped me see the presence of Love and the impossibility of losing any quality of health, which was God- and not body-ordained. I remember at one point being mentally on my knees in prayer to the Father, completely willing to give up anything and everything to see the Truth that would bring healing — whether it be my mortal life or even my child. I felt like Isaac out in the wilderness willingly sacrificing his only son in accordance with his best understanding of his duty to God. Of course, Isaac did not have to sacrifice his child, and neither did I.

My willingness to let go of any pre-conceived notion of the timing and method of healing this condition broke the sickness’ mesmeric hold over me, and the condition disappeared completely almost immediately. The healing took place over 30 years ago and has been permanent. Mary Baker Eddy says that “The Science of Mind denies the error of sensation in matter, and heals with Truth. Medical science treats disease as though disease were real, therefore right, and attempts to heal it with matter.” (SH 318:22–25) Matter is not a healing agent. All true healing is done through Mind, God, uplifting us out of a sense of mortal body to the understanding of our wholly spiritual being.

Drue McCrackin