Complete restoration

Last summer, I experienced what seemed to be a stroke, although it was never diagnosed. I wasn’t able to think clearly and called my son for help. He contacted a Christian Science nursing facility and drove me there for care. I also contacted a Christian Science practitioner who lived near the facility, who agreed to prayerfully support me.

My family and a church friend who lived near the facility came to visit the first few weeks I was there. I was told that these dear ones made several visits before I was aware of them. When I was able to focus on what was going on, I found I couldn’t walk or move my arms or hands. I prayed with the loving help of the practitioner to recognize that speech, communication, and movement are spiritual. As I held to these thoughts, my speech and mental capacities returned.

My son suggested that I pray with the hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal. I found Hymn 175 especially comforting. It begins:

I also loved the last verse of Hymn 382 :

As I prayed along these lines, I found my mobility improving.

A friend sent me the article “True Health” by L. Ivimy Gwalter (The Christian Science Journal, July 1953). I spent a lot of time reading it, and it gave me a lot to think about. One assertion that especially stood out to me was that “Christian Science reveals health as a condition of Mind, of God, Spirit, not of matter.” The article goes on to state that “man’s being, the reflection of God’s being, is ... perfect in strength and freedom of action. … There is no paralysis, because Mind or consciousness is perpetual motion.” These ideas refuted the symptoms I was experiencing, and as I held to them the symptoms quickly began to disappear. (When I asked the practitioner if she was familiar with the article, she said that Ms. Gwalter had been her Christian Science Primary class teacher!)

Part of my healing involved overcoming resistance and reluctance to handling what Mary Baker Eddy calls “animal magnetism,” the erroneous assumption that there is a mind apart from God. The practitioner had given me several passages from the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings, which she suggested I read. These included quotes from Mrs. Eddy about things we should affirm daily—among them, the requirements given on pages 40–42 of the Church Manual—and quotes about handling animal magnetism. Early on, when I’d been having trouble turning the pages, I told the practitioner I would think about “daily requirements” (most of which I knew from memory), but that I wasn’t interested in the quotes about animal magnetism. But when I finally turned to those quotes, wow—what a wake-up call! I especially loved this idea from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake” (Mary Baker Eddy, p. 442 ). Also helpful was this passage from Pulpit and Press: “Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love. If you maintain this position, who or what can cause you to sin or suffer?” (p. 3 ).

These passages reminded me to diligently watch what I am thinking at all times, because—as I had learned through the teachings of Christian Science—our thoughts determine our daily experience, and negative thoughts are detrimental. In the words of St. Paul, we need to be “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5 ).

The practitioner visited me every week while continuing to give me Christian Science treatment daily, and my son came to visit twice a week, sometimes with his wife and two daughters. He also took care of all my affairs at home. Just before the stroke, I had been feeling that I was burdening others who were helping me with household tasks, and wondering if it would be better if I weren’t around. But now I was seeing that that wasn’t true at all. And when I would get discouraged, the practitioner and my family would lovingly lift me out of it. 

I graduated to a wheelchair that I could maneuver myself, then to a walker, and finally to a cane. The Christian Science nurses were loving, helpful, encouraging, and expectant of healing. On the Fourth of July, the facility held a testimony meeting, where I gave a testimony about gaining my freedom and expressed my gratitude for the wonderful services provided there. The next day my son and granddaughter took me home. The cane I was using was quickly discarded. Soon after I returned home, I resumed my usual activities, including driving and working one day a week in the local Christian Science Reading Room. I continued praying with the practitioner, and in August I attended a Christian Science association meeting held 300 miles from home. Words cannot express my gratitude for this experience, which proved so positively to so many that Christian Science heals!

Alice D. Walden
Quincy, Illinois, US