Testimony of Healing September 28, 1998 Issue

Prayer strengthens and heals father and son

Donald L. Murphy

One sweltering afternoon I began to mow the lawn of our extensive property, but I soon realized the terrific heat was going to be too much for me. I could not stop and do it later, however, as the grass would soon reach the point that my small mower would not be able to cut it. I became quite desperate and fearful.

Since I had been raised in a family that went to church and heard the Bible read often, passages of Scripture came to mind: "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night" (Ps. 121:6); They shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isa. 40:31). I did not then know that the first part was from Psalms and the second from Isaiah, but the verses stood out boldly in my thought, and I spoke them silently to myself once, perhaps twice. After that I remembered absolutely nothing until I was mowing the last fifty feet of ground. I was totally unfatigued and not the least bit overheated.

At that time the words Christian Science were words that I had heard, but knew nothing about. Several years later, after having discovered the beauty of Mrs. Eddy's teachings, I read this passage from Science and Health: "The Scriptures say, 'They that wait upon the Lord ... shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.' The meaning of that passage is not perverted by applying it literally to moments of fatigue, for the moral and physical are a one in their results" (p. 218).