Testimony of Healing May 5, 2014 Issue

Overcoming fear of flying

Manuela Meier

As I was leaving a county correctional center one morning, after visiting someone who is serving time for repeated drug violations, it occurred to me that unless we are all watchful in daily claiming our true identity as God’s likeness, at one with our divine source, God, we can easily become prisoners ourselves—mental prisoners. Addictions, anger, guilt, belief in lack of any kind, stress, and fear are all prisons. I know, because I was once a prisoner of anxiety about flying.

For over ten years, my job entailed flying to education conventions all over the United States. Some of those flights were turbulent, and included two emergency landings. So I used those frightening experiences to justify to myself my frequent bouts of in-flight queasiness, even though well-meaning friends and statistics insisted that flying was the safest mode of transportation.

Eventually I resolved to loosen my shackles through more consistent prayer, especially on flying days and especially before take-off, and even during each flight. I spent more time studying the Bible Lessons in the Christian Science Quarterly. I read and reread the opening of Psalm 91 in the Bible, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” along with this compelling statement: “Christian scientific practice begins with Christ’s keynote of harmony, ‘Be not afraid!’ ” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 410). And I regularly carried copies of my favorite hymns on board with me, including these lines written by Anna L. Waring: