Testimony of Healing September 11, 1971 Issue

As a child in England, I was unable to undertake any journeys. . .

Shelagh J. Jordan

As a child in England, I was unable to undertake any journeys, however short, by bus, car, train, or ship without suffering from travel sickness. In my late teens I came to southern Africa, and later, airsickness was added to my misery and discomfort. This was a source of great unhappiness to me, as I always yearned to travel, yet when I did, it was invariably in considerable distress. The climax came in 1961, when I was obliged to fly to England and back, and was extremely ill on both flights.

Soon after this I became seriously interested in Christian Science. I joined a branch church and The Mother Church and later took class instruction. The latter necessitated my flying down to South Africa, and even on this journey I was not completely free. At the end of class, as I prepared for the flight home, I mentioned this problem to my teacher, and said how I longed for a healing. She lovingly told me to remember that, as Christian Science teaches, since material objects are the subjective state of mortal thought I was not, in fact, in the plane but the plane was in my consciousness. These thought-provoking words, combined with the glorious spiritual uplift I had received in class, resulted in a harmonious flight home.

Early the following year the opportunity arose to accompany my husband overseas, a journey involving not only the long flight to England and back but also numerous shorter flights on the continent of Europe. I telephoned my teacher to ask for her prayerful support. The subject of the Lesson-Sermon for that week was "Spirit." I had never been able to read while traveling, as this always seemed to aggravate the nausea, but I decided that in addition to taking my Bible andScience and Health by Mrs. Eddy with me in my hand luggage I would make notes of some brief excerpts from the lesson. These were gems of reassurance in meeting my need, including the wonderful words from Psalm 139 (verses 7 and 8): "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there...." Filled with the confidence that God was right there, I clung to these thoughts as the journey began. I again recalled my teacher's words, and gradually all fear left me. I experienced complete freedom on every flight, including a rather rough continental one, and thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip.