Testimony of Healing June 22, 1981 Issue

Two summers ago, while I was working at a camp for Christian Scientists,...

MARY S. HOAGLAND

Two summers ago, while I was working at a camp for Christian Scientists, I had an opportunity to witness the healing power of divine Love. As a counselor, I was responsible for several camp activities, including the charge of seventeen teen-age girls. My motives to give, and to exercise good, seemed to be right ones. However, I had wrongly assumed that I was personally responsible for all this human activity. One day about midseason, I was feeling so frustrated and fatigued, I broke down into tears while reprimanding "my" campers.

Later the same day, when some of the counselors went waterskiing, I insisted on joining them, although I was really tired. While skiing, I took quite a fall and hit my head. When friends in the boat asked if they could help me, instead of letting go and accepting their aid, I willfully replied that I was going to ski in. By the time I reached the shore I felt very ill. In a great deal of pain, and semiconscious, I finally, gratefully, accepted the support and love of those around me. A Christian Science practitioner was called. Later, family members came to visit, and some campers sang hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal to me. What a humble revelation this manifestation of Love was. And all I had to do was yield to it, not willfully try to exercise it.

While I rested in the infirmary, a friend read to me from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. The answer to the question "What is God?" in the chapter "Recapitulation" was an immediate comfort (p. 465): "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." I saw that, as God's child, I was always cared for. Within a few hours I was sleeping peacefully. The pain, which had felt so real, diminished.

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June 22, 1981
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