Over the years, I've had many healings through Christian Science, and I'd like to share two of them. The first incident occurred when I was visiting my daughter. It was raining quite heavily, and on my way there I was walking down a tree-lined road that had lots of wet leaves on the ground. Before I knew what was happening, I fell to the ground, and my leg twisted underneath me. I heard a loud crack. I tried to get up, but my leg was too painful to take any weight.

As soon as I'd collected myself, a verse from Psalms came to me that I had thought about earlier on: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." It continues, "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand" (37:23, 24). I felt that this was an angel message telling me that God governed me and that I was held safely in His love. From my study of Christian Science I understood that I was the perfect reflection, or idea, of God, and because of this, I could never be outside God's care.

A passerby offered to take me to my daughter's house, which was only about five minutes away. I gratefully accepted.

When I arrived there, I was shaking uncontrollably. My daughter made me comfortable on a settee and helped me call a Christian Science practitioner, which was my preferred choice of care. I explained to the practitioner what had happened and that I seemed to be suffering from shock, and I asked her to pray for me. The practitioner reassured me that in God's presence nothing unlike good ever happens. As we talked, I felt surrounded by Love, and immediately I stopped shaking. I felt so much better.

Shortly afterwards, a friend of my daughter's called to see her. When he saw my predicament, he said he had a crutch at home, and he went to get it for me. I felt that God was taking care of all my needs.

Walking was still difficult, so I got a ride home that evening. Once at home, I continued to pray and hold on to the truth that nothing but good ever happens to a spiritual idea of God. I felt so cared for by divine Love, and I knew that I could never be separated from Love. That night I slept comfortably.

The next morning, I could walk more easily, without the crutch. Throughout the day I spent my time in prayer. I prayed with the words from a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal:

The word today stood out to me. I realised that God was present right then and there and was filling all space, so there was no room for pain and suffering. Before the end of the day I could walk freely and without pain. I was healed. I phoned the practitioner to give her the good news, and we rejoiced together.

The other healing happened when I was working in our family toy store. It was the week before Christmas, and we were exceptionally busy. I suddenly felt a very sharp pain shoot up my arm and shoulder, and my whole arm became very difficult to move.

One of the women working in the store was worried it might be a condition which she'd suffered from and which had taken two years to heal. As I turned my thought to God in prayer, a statement from Science and Health came to me: "Mind is the source of all movement ..." (p. 283). This comforted me tremendously. I saw right away that the difficulty had nothing to do with physicality, but needed to be dealt with in thought, through understanding the control of Mind, or God.

I called a Christian Science practitioner for prayerful support, and after the family had gone to bed that night, I stayed up to do more praying. I had been very concerned about lack of harmony among our staff and felt impelled to consider this in my prayers as well. I acknowledged God as the only power governing each individual and our whole business. God was our source and produced only harmony.

I remember picking up a children's book and reading a story about a father who had taken his daughter to the orchard to watch the sunrise. He told her that the sunrise is rather like God's power. There is no noise, no pushing, no fighting, and no destruction with it. In the same way, I realised, God was governing everything and every one of His children in our household and store. That meant there could only be harmony among the staff and all of us. I felt a wonderful trust that all was well.

As I continued to pray that night, I soon noticed that the pain in my arm had also completely disappeared.

The next day, some of the staff asked me how my arm was, and I showed them it was fine by swinging it around. I never had any more trouble with that arm.

As a bonus, I soon noticed the atmosphere in the store was much better and the staff were kinder to each other.

I was so grateful.

AUDREY NORMANTON
LEEDS, WEST YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND