Article June 29, 2009 Issue

Christian Science and responsible healthcare for children

BY SARAH HYATT

You, Lord, are the one I praise. So heal me and rescue me! Then I will be completely well and perfectly safe. —Jeremiah 17:14 (Contemporary English Version)

It was a sound every mother dreads: I heard our 18-month-old son, Andy, screaming in agony across the hall, and I rushed into his room. He was too young to really tell me what was wrong, but I noticed him clutching his ear. I wanted nothing more at that moment than for Andy to be free from the pain. I picked him up, comforting him as best I could, and immediately called a Christian Science practitioner. She right away agreed to pray with us, even though it was in the wee hours of the morning.

I remember thinking, "If this isn't healed quickly, I'll consider something else. No child should suffer like this." I sat with Andy in a rocker and began to sing hymns to him. I used each hymn as a prayer acknowledging that God is good and God is All, His goodness being all there could possibly be. And I reasoned that since God is good, His will for this child had to be for health and well-being; this pain was obviously not good, not from God, and subsequently without reality.

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