I was a typical mom, taking my kids to the doctors for ear infections, strep throat, and so on. Then my oldest son was diagnosed with a permanent, progressive hearing loss. After extensive testing by different specialists, I was told that at some time he would probably be totally deaf and that I should be grateful that he had learned to speak before it happened.

Devastated, I told an acquaintance about the diagnosis. She told me, "Jesus' healings are still going on." I said, "Yea, sure," but I knew it didn't apply to me. I was taught as a child that God chooses everything that happens and He does it for a reason; He decides who gets well and who doesn't.

I knew there was something wrong with that concept, but I didn't know what was the right idea of God. I had eventually become an agnostic. It did not seem right that God "allowed" bad things to happen; therefore, we didn't attend any church.

An opportunity arose for me to work with the acquaintance just mentioned. I told her my youngest son had chronic ear infections, and I was also upset by the treatment outlined by the medical specialists. She told me, "There are other options." I didn't know what she meant, and my husband and I took the child to another specialist. That specialist agreed with the others and felt permanent damage had probably already occurred.

When I found out this acquaintance was a Christian Scientist, I had some questions to ask her! I wanted to understand how a seemingly intelligent person would deny her child medical treatment! Having since become a Christian Scientist, I need to mention right here that Christian Scientists do not deny children effective treatment. I would not ignore something that needs correcting. The treatment I give is metaphysical. My concept of God is no longer the belief that God chooses who gets healed. If that were the case, Christ Jesus, his disciples, and all professionals devoted to healing would be violating God's intentions.

My friend gave me a book to read, Science and Health, and she answered lots of questions. I eventually went to the Christian Science Reading Room, which is a library and bookstore open to the public. I borrowed and purchased books, read, asked further questions, and learned more.

Two messages I got from this reading made an impression on me. The first: "Some religions have maintained that God sends afflictions to His children, or permits them to be imposed upon them, because they serve a divine purpose, such as discipline. To the Christian Scientist such explanations seem to subtractmuch from the all-power, glory, and perfection of God, and from His orderly and intelligent government of His creation. They seem more like the efforts of the human mind to rationalize the evils it accepts as real and then cannot explain, than the light of divine revelation." ^{De Witt John, The Christian Science Way of Life (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1962), p. 53.} To paraphrase the second thought: It's not so much that people don't believe in God as that they don't believe in another's concept of God.

I now know what God is, and what He is not. In Science and Health, God is defined as "the great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence" (p. 587). I love those synonyms; and none of them has to do with the material or physical world as most of us see it. "He" is not a physical person with two eyes, a mouth, and so on.

Here is an analogy that helps us to explain God's goodness and how it frees us from evil. If you were to tell the sun that there was a dark closet in your room or that it was dark under the bed, the sun wouldn't know what you were talking about. As soon as you "try" to show the sun the darkness, it brings light and only sees light. The darkness disappears. Just as the sun doesn't see darkness, God doesn't see sickness or other evil. Yet God is a law unto Himself, a source of power and strength, and "a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1). Our job is to see how that source of goodness applies to our situation.

So, when I pray, I don't pray for God to fix something; I pray to understand my life and the lives of others from God's perspective. It is this understanding that brings spiritual light and corrects or removes error. My job is to deny the world's limited, material view of any situation. From God's standpoint, there is no darkness, error, sickness, or death. He knows only good. There is no other power.

How did all this apply to my family?

The health of everyone in the family has greatly improved, and my oldest son has not lost his hearing as predicted. As a separate issue, he had five episodes of throat infections the year prior to my starting to read Science and Health, and has had none in the last three years. This healing is complete!

When my youngest son started school, his hearing was tested and found to be above normal. He has had no more ear infections. As for myself, I suffered from allergy problems since I was a baby, despite years of allergy shots. I had pneumonia numerous times, chronic sinus infections, and was also diagnosed as asthmatic. All of this disappeared while I was reading this book.

If there is an occasion of ill health in the family, it is normally handled very quickly. Instantaneous healings are not unusual. This method of healing is not invasive; it is purely sanitary, gentle, comforting, and loving.

What started out to be a brief examination of what I thought would be a heretic religion has turned into a wonderful way of life, and has brought "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Phil. 4:7). My family is healthier, and we are no longer as limited by the world's concepts regarding health, finances, or relationships.

MARK

These signs shall follow them that
believe; In my name shall they cast
out devils, they shall speak with new
tongues; they shall take up serpents;
and if they drink any deadly thing, it
shall not hurt them; they shall lay bands on the
sick, and they shall recover.

Mark 16:17, 18