Freed from pain and restricted movement
In late December 2009, I found that it was difficult to move normally without feeling pain in my joints. The most serious challenge came at night. After lying down for a short while, any movement caused pain. Getting in and out of a car was also difficult. I avoided leaning over to pick up things on the floor, and the simple act of putting on my socks was a struggle.
I was able to go about my normal activities, although I moved much slower than usual. During much of this time, I had prayerful help from a Christian Science practitioner. I called the practitioner daily, and he shared helpful ideas. He reminded me that I was not praying to change a physical condition but to gain a stronger understanding of my spiritual identity. I prayed to identify myself with God, to see myself as God—my spiritual Father-Mother—knows me.
I reminded myself that time was not a factor, that since my true being was not mortal, I had not slipped into a condition of suffering at a certain time in the past and that it had continued for a certain amount of time. My spiritual selfhood had no history of pain or restricted movement. I live in the eternal now. My true, my only being is unlimited, whole, healthy now. I can’t get closer to (or farther away from) God than I am right now. As the Bible says, “Now are we the sons of God” (I John 3:2 ). If time doesn’t affect God or God’s child, then man does not get old and lose strength, faculties, etc. This was an important point to affirm since my body was telling me that I was feeling very old.
During one night, I felt so much pain and stiffness when I moved in any direction that I didn’t feel I would be able to get out of bed. I thought of calling the practitioner, but I was not able to reach over to the phone on the nightstand. I reviewed some of the ideas that I had been praying with over the recent days and weeks. For example, that God, Mind, was the source of all action; that “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation …” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468 ); that I was an idea in the divine Mind. I kept praying and listening for angel thoughts, and eventually I was able to get up.
During these many months, my wife was very supportive. I know she was praying to see my true spiritual nature and discount what the physical senses were telling us. I often pondered the concept of action. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, “Consciousness, as well as action, is governed by Mind,—is in God ...” (p. 480 ). Also, “In Science, all being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmonious in every action” (p. 407 ). I realized that there was a direct connection between action and knowing. If “All is infinite Mind,” as Christian Science teaches, then all movement is really moving of thought—thinking, or knowing. It’s going on in the divine Mind. The practitioner pointed out that I am what God is knowing, and that gratitude is action.
Most people believe that to heal yourself, you have to do something visible—take a pill, exercise, eat a certain kind of food, etc., and that healing takes time. The truth is that prayer is action—the most effective kind of action. Aligning our thoughts with the all-knowing ruler of the universe and consciously realizing His control over us is doing much. Jesus proved this. He healed people of serious illnesses, in some cases without even seeing them. And without requiring time.
I wasn’t tempted to get a physical diagnosis since I knew this would tend to fix a concept of an abnormal physical condition in my thought and that of others. (Later I was told that the symptoms were those of arthritis.) In my prayer I affirmed the spiritual facts that the physical condition, while seeming to be very real, was not actually the reality of my being, and that matter has no voice because it has no mind. I could reject what it seemed to say and I could replace its lies with what God was telling me about my true and perfect spiritual being.
The condition persisted with little outward progress for several months, and at times I was tempted to be discouraged. But, as the practitioner reminded me, I was making spiritual progress every day and there was no deadline for healing. My job was (and is) to seek a clearer and clearer grasp of God, claim the truth of my being, and keep raising my thought. At one point, I felt I had made enough progress along these lines and had grown confident enough in my own ability to pray that I told the practitioner that I was ready to “go it alone” (not without God, of course).
Toward autumn, I found myself able to move more normally and with less and less pain. I was gradually gaining back all my usual flexibility and strength. And soon I could do everything normally.
It was time to sing with the Psalmist: “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalms 107:8 ).
Herb Dresser
Lynnwood, Washington, US
