Limits and burdens fade
It has always been comforting for me to hear that there are no limits to what God can do. Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27 ). I remember, as a child, reading about when Jesus and Peter walked on the water. And I wondered how I could tap into such divine power.
Healing, as Christ Jesus taught, would seem to many to be impossible to achieve. That’s how I was tempted to feel at one time when I was relying on Christian Science prayer for healing of an injury.
I was moving into a smaller house after having to sell our home and many belongings in order to pay the costs of managing my husband’s physical needs. My husband was not a practicing Christian Scientist and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. I was his only caretaker and could no longer care for him on my own. As I prepared to transfer him to a care facility, I didn’t see how, on our limited income, I would be able to pay the huge bills. I was also told that the costs would only continue to rise.
Moving day came and two dear friends helped me transfer my things. We loaded three boxes, one on top of another, onto a moving dolly. As we came down a slope, the dolly ran over my toes. The pain showed in my face, but I assured my friends that I was fine to keep going.
While we continued to move the things into the house, I mentally declared truths about my spiritual selfhood and the permanence of God’s care and love for me. I prayed with “the scientific statement of being,” which Mary Baker Eddy gives in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 468 ). This statement says that “God is All-in-all” and that “there is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter.” This passage also states that, “Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness.” I knew that this is who I am—an idea of God, Mind. And as God’s image, I could claim Spirit as my substance.
I’d had many healings through Christian Science, and I expected that, with my continued prayers, I’d have a quick healing of this injury. But after several weeks of diligent prayer, my foot remained quite sore and I had a limp. During those weeks, I also worried that with the bills for my husband’s care accruing rapidly, we might have to declare bankruptcy. Things looked bleak.
While praying one day, I remembered another time in my life when it seemed as if there would be no way out of my troubles. Years ago, my husband and I lost a large sum of money—our nest egg. In that situation, I put all my trust in God, and within five years, my husband and I had earned our money back. I was sure I could trust God’s care for me once again.
One night, several weeks after the foot injury, I got ready for bed. As I started to fall asleep, I asked God what it was that I needed to learn, feeling sure that I was ready to hear what God was teaching me.
Several hours later, I woke and sat up. As I listened, the word limits came to me. I said, “Well, God, ‘limits’ seem to be about all I have right now!” Then I heard clearly this thought from God, “You are putting limits on Me!” Suddenly, I saw that for the previous few years I’d been living with the attitude of feeling impoverished and that I alone had to bear the burden.
I asked God to forgive me, and I suddenly saw that God’s limitless being is the only being there is and that I am a part of His limitless creation. I jumped out of bed to look up limitless in my Concordance to Mary Baker Eddy’s writings.
There are six sentences in Science and Health where Mary Baker Eddy uses the word limitless. The last one is my favorite, “Love alone can impart the limitless idea of infinite Mind” (p. 510 ). How loved I felt at that moment! I felt the way Jesus must have felt when he walked on rough waters—that God was with me. I let go of thinking that I could be broke, that I could lead an unhappy life, or that I could be separated from God.
The next day, I was completely healed. The following night, at the Wednesday evening testimony meeting at my branch church, the citation above was read by our First Reader. I knew with certainty this healing message was imparted through the one, infinite Mind, God, whose angel thoughts directly meet every need. Soon after this healing, the US military informed us they would now start paying my husband’s pension. This allowed us to pay all of our bills.
I’m so grateful for this fresh view of our limitless being.
Sally Lind
Encinitas, California, US
