Flu symptoms healed
It wasn’t my finest hour—a full week out sick with flu symptoms, flat on my back in bed, unable to sing and thus to work. As the symptoms started to abate, I began to realize how silly it had been for me not to call a Christian Science practitioner earlier; but as the condition had apparently begun to move on anyway, I didn’t bother.
And then the symptoms started all over again. In humility, I called a practitioner and asked her for prayerful support. Within seconds of talking to her, a deep feeling of peace and of being loved settled within me. The cheer, care, and tenderness that the practitioner exhibited washed away the doubt, the guilt, and the self-pity I had been wallowing in. And for the first time since the condition started, I began to allow myself to be receptive to healing.
The week I spent praying with the practitioner did throw out the claim of sickness. But the real healing for me was mental—and infinitely more precious.
Guided by the practitioner to study the story of the widow woman and the unjust judge in Luke 18:1–8 , I finally faced and admitted to a lack of faith that had hampered me for months. I was willing to put my trust in God and in the truth I had been taught growing up as a Christian Scientist. As I recognized that my understanding of God’s laws was rooted in the fulfillment of prophecy by both Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy, I began to stand up in my thinking to claims of misery, self-doubt, self-criticism, and frustration, among others. The realization came that I wasn’t studying and praying to heal the physical condition; rather, this was a call from God to put my feet back on the path of Christian Science, which I had so dearly loved since childhood.
Each day had its challenges. First, it came to me to admit a burden of guilt over not having demonstrated a solid physical healing in the past couple of years. The practitioner’s quick appraisal and dismissal of guilt as having no part in Christianly scientific thought, lifted off the sense of pressure I hadn’t known I’d been carrying. A heavy sense of hopelessness dissipated right along with it.
One night soon after, I woke up to very painful flu symptoms. It occurred to me to play the online audio recording of that week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson. The love-filled and clear declaration of Truth removed my fear—as well as that of my husband, who’d awoken with me—and we both fell peacefully asleep after it finished.
Another day, frustration reared its head, and I shared with the practitioner that not only did the situation feel helpless, but also that another upsetting suggestion of aggressive pain was impeding the use of my right arm. After our conversation, I felt so buoyed and inspired that I gave myself a clear and direct Christian Science treatment for the first time in months. The release and childlike trust that followed allowed me to sleep freely for the first time in several days, and when I woke, the pain was nearly gone. The complete healing of all symptoms followed shortly thereafter, and I could both sing and use my arm with total freedom.
Yet the biggest growth I experienced happened before I even called the practitioner. I decided, in contrast to almost all my previous calls with practitioners over the years, that I would refuse to end my work with the practitioner until I could see healing. This was nevertheless a leap of faith for me, given that I had lost my job recently and was dealing with new financial pressures—although I knew that practitioners will work with patients of varying financial circumstances. But it seemed very important, before I began working with a practitioner, that I not allow myself to be tempted to give up on healing. It became clear to me that God’s healing work brings its own supply—after all, how could the all-loving Father-Mother God reveal the eternal Science of healing and not provide humanity the avenue necessary to practice and demonstrate it? I have never again feared that I would not be able to pay for Christian Science treatment.
It is with immense gratitude that I look at this two-week period of apparent sickness and see instead a turning point in my study and practice of Christian Science. My heart overflows with gratitude for being raised in and well taught the true Science of being over the years—and for the Christian Science practitioner who reminded me that Truth is at hand.
Emily Maixner
West New York, New Jersey, US
