The final word

“The first look. The final word.” Trendy fashion magazine Vogue uses this phrase to advertise its online content, and the words convey a sense of the magazine’s authority in the fashion industry. Designers whose looks are featured in its pages are practically guaranteed success. A picture on its cover is the most highly prized achievement of many a fashion model’s career. Its editors have front row seats at the world’s biggest fashion shows. Such, it seems, is the power of that which has both “the first look” and “the final word”!

As catchy phrases are designed to do, this one stuck with me after I read it. It reminded me of the Bible verse, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13 ), which always speaks to me of God’s changeless perfection—quite unlike the fickle fashion scene! It also got me to thinking about a couple of healings I witnessed in which, thankfully, “the first look” at the physical symptoms did not turn out to be “the final word.”

One night when our son was in the fifth grade, he suddenly doubled over and started screaming in pain. My husband and I rushed him to the hospital emergency room. Although I had attended a Christian Science Sunday School and church for most of my life, at that time neither my husband nor I were practicing Christian Scientists. The doctors gave our son something for the pain and sent him home. The next night, the same thing happened. Again, he was treated for pain and sent home. When we showed up at the emergency room on the third night, he was immediately admitted to the hospital because of some alarming new symptoms.

After a sleepless night beside our son’s bed, I went home to shower and change clothes before going back to the hospital. On the return trip, while sitting at a traffic light, I noticed a new billboard that read: “Choose life!” It’s a small part of a verse from Deuteronomy that reads, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (30:19, New King James Version). The billboard was meant to influence the pro-life/pro-choice debate, but to me, at that moment, it was wholly practical and not political. Those words from the Bible touched me deeply, and my heart responded with a resounding: “Yes! I will choose to love life. I will not choose fear. Life! I choose life!” The message could not have been more reassuring or comforting. The idea that God is Life and the conviction that He is good, which I had learned from my early study of Christian Science, had never really left me. The moment was a turning point: our son’s ordeal wasn’t over yet, but I felt sure that these frightening symptoms weren’t going to be the last word about him.

The doctors suspected pheochromocytoma—a kind of tumor—and ordered an MRI, a detailed diagnostic test. It was several weeks before we could get an appointment. In the meantime, our son was put on a restricted diet and we were instructed to measure his blood pressure twice a day. Every time I wrapped the blood pressure cuff on his little arm, I silently reaffirmed, “I choose life.” That desire to “choose life” began to gently shape every aspect of my day. It seemed like God was calling out from every place and showing me signs of life—new growth on the trees, people smiling, helpful co-workers, children riding bicycles.

It seemed like God was calling out from every place and showing me signs of life.

By the time the appointment came, our son was back in school. He was free of all pain. His blood pressure was normal. There had not been another trip to the emergency room. So we were not surprised that the MRI revealed a perfectly healthy child. The doctors didn’t know how to account for what had happened, but saw no reason to do any more testing. The dietary restrictions were lifted; the blood pressure cuff was put away. All symptoms were gone and have never returned. Thankfully that frightening first look was not the final word. Life, God, was the final Word!

The other healing came about through a better understanding of the significance of “the first look.” Some years after reembracing Christian Science, I received a phone call from a friend who said she was not feeling well. She asked if I would pray for her. I turned to God in prayer and mentally heard the declaration, “I was there first.” It made me think of the opening words of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 ).

I picked up my Bible and began to read Genesis 1, the chapter that shows the thoroughness of God’s creation, which culminates in God making man “in his own image” (1:27 ). Six times—once during each of the first six days of creation—God looked at His work and saw “that it was good,” and on the seventh day, God made His final pronouncement that His creation was “very good” (1:31 ). This was the real first look! There is no mention of God making or seeing anything that was not good. As Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “The Scriptures plainly declare the allness and oneness of God to be the premises of Truth, and that God is good: in Him dwelleth no evil. Christian Science authorizes the logical conclusion drawn from the Scriptures, that there is in reality none besides the eternal, infinite God, good. Evil is temporal: it is the illusion of time and mortality” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 93 ).

God’s authority, allness, and goodness were so firmly established in my thought by the time I got to the end of the chapter, that I was sure my friend was well. I reasoned simply: God is all. He said all that He created was good. So unless God has gone bad, all that He created, including my friend, must still be good. How could she be otherwise? God created her in His image and likeness! My friend’s wholly good and spiritual nature had to be intact. She called the next day in perfect health, and together we gave thanks to God. We learned that if we want to know the truth about our health, our first look must be to God and to what He says about man.

Perhaps my favorite part of these two healings came when I called our son and my friend to ask if I could share their experiences in this article. My friend could not even recall what had been ailing her—all she remembered was her gratitude for a quick healing. When I asked our son what he remembered, he replied, “Oh, yeah, not much … hmm … what was that about, anyway?”

Such is the authority of God. He has—He is—The Final Word!