Cataracts and impaired vision healed
Past healings have taught me that since I am the image and likeness of God, illness and disease are no part of my real being. A healing several years ago forcefully brought home that point for me.
I have worn glasses for many years, and when my vision became cloudy in late 2000, I thought it was a problem with the glasses I was wearing (the ones I was using were ten years old). But when I went to see an optometrist to get new glasses, I was told that my right eye had a cataract. I did not know what a cataract was or how to respond, and over the next several months my vision continued to worsen.
In November 2001 I went to a different doctor, where I received the same diagnosis but was now told that both eyes were affected. The doctor informed me that the only solution was an operation, and that without this operation I would lose my vision completely. I asked to be prescribed new glasses and said that I needed time to think about the operation. I went home and started praying.
I prayed constantly over the next year, seeking to understand that God created me in His own image and likeness, which couldn’t include clouding or imperfection of any kind. The medical diagnosis was frightening to me, but I also knew that I could rely on God for healing, no matter what the condition claimed to be. At one point, I needed to renew my driver’s license, but failed the vision test. This was disheartening, but when I called a Christian Science practitioner for support, he reminded me that I didn’t need to be discouraged or afraid, and that I’d never for a moment left God’s care.
The following year, I moved to another state and needed to get a new driver’s license. Again I failed the vision test. I was given a form and told to have an eye doctor fill it out. When I did so, the doctor informed me that my eyes had deteriorated so badly that I would be restricted to driving only during daylight hours, and that I would have to take a vision test annually.
In spite of all this, I can honestly say that I never thought I would not be healed. I continued to pray, and while I cannot remember exactly what ideas I prayed with, I felt the sweet assurance that this condition would yield.
The following year when I took the vision test again, I was told my driver’s license would be suspended. Since there is no public transportation in the area, I didn’t know how I would get along without being able to drive. I also became very afraid about losing my vision entirely.
On the way home from the test I prayed, “Father, show me what I need to know.” The answer came very quickly: “Read the Lesson”—meaning the Christian Science Bible Lesson, the weekly set of themed passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. Though I had read the Lesson earlier that morning, as soon as I got to the house, I got my books out and started in on it again. In that week’s Lesson was this citation from Ecclesiastes 3:15 : “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been.”
As I read that, suddenly I understood the spiritual nature of all men and women, including myself. I realized that because God created me, there can never be any part of me that is not already perfect. The idea cut like a knife through the fear I’d been feeling, and, in that instant, I knew I was healed. I felt that all the prayer I’d been doing in the preceding months and years had led up to that simple, central realization.
Later that day, I realized I’d forgotten to take the doctor the form that he needed to fill out. Two days later, when I took it to him, there was one extra item on the form that needed an answer, and for which he had not tested. He ran that test, and because of how well I performed, he decided to repeat the entire test. The results were dramatically different from the test I’d taken just two days before. He could not account for the discrepancy. He said my driving privilege would be good for another year.
A year later I successfully retook the test. I got my new driver’s license and the daylight driving restriction was removed. More than five years have come and gone since then, and my vision remains clear. I can drive long distances with no difficulty.
I am deeply grateful for this healing, and even more grateful to Mrs. Eddy for listening to God and giving Christian Science to the world. There are no words that can adequately express my gratitude for this Science.
Pamilla Baptiste
St. Augustine, Florida, US
