Testimony of Healing March 11, 2013 Issue

Persistent prayer heals back pain

Annette Dutenhoffer

Some healings come quickly, others take some persistence. Several years ago in early October, our church was moving into a new location, and for several days I helped out with some heavy lifting. Afterward, my back hurt and I had trouble doing anything without pain. Getting a good night’s sleep was difficult.

Off and on over the next several months, I would ask a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me when I felt as though I was at a standstill in my prayers for myself. This always brought some relief, and a lot of hope, but I wasn’t completely free. I don’t remember specifically all the metaphysical truths that kept me going during that time, but I was able to fulfill my duties at church and home, which I attribute to the sustaining power of all the prayer that was going on.

One of the tools I worked with during those months was the allegory of a trial that can be found at the end of the chapter titled, “Christian Science Practice,” in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. The scene is introduced like this: “Suppose a mental case to be on trial, as cases are tried in court. A man is charged with having committed liver-complaint. The patient feels ill, ruminates, and the trial commences” (p. 430). The particular case in this trial was of a man who had helped out a sick friend and ended up becoming unwell himself with a liver condition. I could relate to this account. I felt like I was “on trial” for having helped my church and had been sentenced to back pain. In the trial in Science and Health, Christian Science comes to the aid of the accused as his counsel, defending him by pointing out, in short, that good deeds, “acting justly” (p. 435), are not a punishable offense. I realized that I too had acted justly and was innocent.