Symptoms of paralysis healed

Helga Janesch

A number of years ago I woke up one Sunday morning and was completely paralyzed. The amazing thing is that I was not afraid. I knew from my study of Christian Science that so-called physical problems are actually not physical, but mental in nature, and in order to be healed we have to change our thinking from a material to a spiritual outlook. Very humbly I asked God to show me in what way I had to change my thought to be healed. The answer came very quickly and clearly: “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Self-pity has ensnared you so you cannot move.“ I was most grateful for this answer and willing to change my mental attitude. I realized that I had been feeling sorry for myself because I resented the fact that I was living alone and had a very demanding and unpleasant job. I saw that I needed to express gratitude instead, and I realized there was lots to be grateful for.

As soon as this became apparent to me, I was able to get up from the sofa where I had been sleeping and was able to move—very slowly—to the telephone, which was in another room. I called a Christian Science practitioner and asked for prayerful support. After calling, I felt calm and confident and knew I had a choice to make. It was up to me to listen either to thoughts of fear and despair or to divine inspiration. As Mary Baker Eddy put it in Science and Health: “Your decisions will master you, whichever direction they take.

“Reverse the case. Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously” (p. 392).

When I was sitting on the sofa again, I felt strongly that I had to be obedient and listen to God’s ideas and to nothing else. Then the thought came very clearly: “Get dressed and go to church.” Past experiences have shown me that we are blessed by attending church services and so I decided to go. I resisted the temptation to be fearful and, strengthened by my prayer, I very slowly got dressed. I was absolutely convinced that it was God’s will for me to go to church and that God was moving me. I was not doing it by myself. I understood that “Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action” (Science and Health, p. 283).

When I arrived in church, fear tried to overwhelm me. Again I turned to God and I felt His comforting love embracing me.

During the service I made every effort not to think about the problem at all but to focus completely on the readings from the Bible and Science and Health. Afterward I remained seated and waited until all attendees had left. While I was sitting there an elderly lady approached me whom I had known for some years. She greeted me very kindly and asked if I would like to be her guest and have lunch with her. I thanked her for the invitation, but added that I was not able to move very well. She said: “You don’t need to move at all. You can sit in an arm chair, relax, and pray, while I prepare our lunch.”

This woman was an answer to my prayers. I was so grateful to have someone so lovingly take care of me that Sunday. I used every moment at her house to pray, study some Christian Science literature, and clarify my thinking as to my true identity as God’s reflection. And I knew my friend was praying, too.

By the end of the day I was completely free and could move normally. But best of all, I felt so loved and not alone anymore!

My work situation eventually changed, too. I learned more and more to express divine Principle and fearlessness. And I was eventually guided to do something totally different where I could express more of my talents and be more useful to others than before.

I love what Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health on page 57: “. . . Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for heaven.” I am most grateful for having found Christian Science early in life and for the unselfish work of Christian Science practitioners.

Helga Janesch
Ittigen, Switzerland

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