Article January 28, 2013 ISSUE

The healing from my perspective

Rosemary Anne Gwyther

As a schoolgirl, I always felt free to invite my school friends to come to Sunday School with me. None of them were Christian Scientists, so to me it felt natural to include them and introduce them to the teachings of Christian Science.

One rainy lunch hour, we were sent to have our break time in the school gymnasium, where we started playing around with the apparatus. I still had my leather outdoor shoes on instead of sneakers, and proceeded to climb up the wall bars and lean over to the high beam to do a somersault. But my shoes slipped right off the bar, and I fell flat on my face onto the wooden floor below. As I fell I remember declaring, “God is love.” That statement from First John 4:16 came so readily to me, as I had been taught it in Sunday School and at home.

As I lay there, one of my friends who had also visited my Sunday School came up to me immediately and whispered “God is Love.” She helped remove the splinters of wood from my mouth and sat me down on a nearby bench. Other girls screamed, “She has broken her back.” I hadn’t, but there were expressions of fear all around me. There was little bleeding, although my lips swelled enormously, but briefly.

One of my friends helped me out of the gymnasium to the school nurse’s office, where my mother was called. My mother reassured me and the school that all was well, so sure was she of my protection. I’d grown up expecting healing through prayer, and together we prayed with Mary Baker Eddy’s poem “Mother’s Evening Prayer,” which begins, “O gentle presence, peace and joy and power; ...” (Poems, p. 4 ). I found this tremendously comforting and uplifting. And, in fact, I was instantaneously healed—the swelling and bruising vanished almost at once. I was able to play field hockey that same afternoon. To this day, I have perfect front teeth.

Jennifer witnessed the experience and was so moved by the immediacy of that healing that she started to study Christian Science. She later became a practicing Christian Scientist, and today we are the closest of friends.

[Read "When a friend was healed"]

About the author

Rosemary Anne Gwyther lives in Kenilworth, Illinois.

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