Healing for our son
Shortly after our son was born, the midwife with whom we had worked expressed concern over the coloring of our son’s skin. Her best advice was that we spend time in the sun with him, with just his diaper on, to help balance out the tone. (We lived in Seattle at the time and sun was a little hard to come by!) This recommendation urged me to seek a more permanent and spiritual solution. I remember considering the need and asking myself, “Do I really trust God enough to take care of someone for whom I feel responsible?” It was a moment of truth for me as a mom.
I opened my Bible to a favorite passage from the book of James: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (1:17 ). It struck me that the light of God, divine Truth, was all the light we needed for this dear, good, and perfect child, this perfect “gift.” I let that thought rest on our family. In future visits, the midwife said nothing more about our son’s skin tone and his skin has been of normal color since.
About ten years later, during a family gathering, this same son was roughhousing with a family member. Although it started out with smiles and in jest, our son soon fell to the ground and was in pain. I could feel the atmosphere of worry and fear around us. Family members became concerned. As I comforted our son, it became immediately clear that it would be best to leave the room, going somewhere we could get quiet and handle this situation through prayer. We happened to be in a restaurant high up in an office building. Walking wasn’t an option for our son at that point since his ankle appeared to be injured. Gratefully, my grandparents were also there that evening, and so we had my grandfather’s walker available to us. We quickly and calmly left the party, with our son leaning over the walker for support.
I remember that as we helped our son into our car, I looked him in the eye and calmly said: “God is right here. You have everything you need.” I could see relief in his eyes. As the rest of the family got in the car, I explained that we wouldn’t be having our typical casual conversations on the way home. It was a time for everyone to be praying. I could hear the most beautiful little voices in the back of the car as our children were repeating favorite lines from Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and singing hymns.
Our son was able to sleep peacefully all night long, and in the morning we spent a lot of time talking about support, foundation, and right activity from a spiritual standpoint. Our son was so receptive to these ideas and really made them his own. I also found it very important to maintain that sense of quiet I perceived a need for the night before. Family began to call and check in on us. I assured each caller that our son was OK and was making progress.
I also included the family member who had been roughhousing with our son in our prayers. He was feeling quite guilty about the injury. One of our children’s CDs from the Christian Science Reading Room has a song “Omni, Omni” that says, “Omni means all and it leaves nothing out” (G is for God by The Solo Committee). Mary Baker Eddy tells us in Science and Health that omni comes from the Latin word for all and that God is all-knowing, all-power, and all-presence (see p. 466 ). I loved this idea, and it meant to me that no thing (ankles) or people (the other family members) were left out of God’s care.
After several days, our son was doing better but was still not able to put too much weight on his foot. He began to worry as our family had plans to attend a family camp for Christian Scientists the following week and he wanted to be able to enjoy the time there. During this process, my husband and I had talked about options—we were open to taking our son to get his ankle examined by a doctor. And as time for our vacation drew closer, I suggested that we at least have the ankle X-rayed. Our son responded with, “Why would we take a picture to see if something is bad, when we’ve been praying to see that it’s good?” Whoa! I could have fallen to my knees. The Bible tells us that “a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6 ) and this was our son’s turn.
I realized then that I felt an intense sense of personal responsibility, as his parent, for his health and recovery. So while my husband and I continued to pray for him, I asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. Two days after calling the practitioner, our son came running down the hall to our bedroom jubilantly shouting, “My foot is all better!” And it was. He was absolutely free to move around in any way he chose. He spent a full week at camp hiking, climbing, and running, and participated in a full season of soccer without any trouble.
I learned during this time to go back to that early lesson of our son’s first days with us. To trust him to his Father’s care, “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” My husband and I were so grateful for this opportunity to express God’s dominion and loving care for all of us. Our son learned a great deal about trusting God and so did I.
Julie Rein
St. Louis, Missouri, US
