Testimony of Healing December 17, 2001 Issue

Finding strength and freedom in Spirit

Adelaide Rosenthal

I woke up one morning unable to move my head up and down, or from side to side, without pain at the back of my neck. The Christian Science practitioner whom I called for help in praying about this assured me that I would be healed.

After our conversation, I did feel the love of God. I felt secure, held safely in an uplifted state. The practitioner had recommended that I study page 210 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, saying we would use the powerful spiritual concepts we found there to destroy whatever was keeping me from feeling God's care. By evening I still felt unable to lie down to sleep without pain, so I sat up in a chair and continued to pray, expecting guidance and healing.

These words of Jesus came to mind: "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him" (Mark 9:25). This is from an account of Jesus' healing an epileptic boy. I changed the word him to me as I prayed. My prayer was silent, and I directed it to the "dumb and deaf spirit" a couple of times. At first it seemed to have little effect, but I prayed earnestly and directly once more. The third time I felt lifted up by God, who is Spirit, and I stood up—joyous and free. I walked over to my bed and went to sleep.