Testimony of Healing July 22, 2013 Issue

Eye infection gone

Annette Söllinger

Originally written in German, this testimony appeared in the April 2013 German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese editions of The Herald of Christian Science.

Six years ago a sticky substance formed on one of my eyes, which made it very hard for me to see. I asked a Christian Science practitioner for prayerful help. Since my job requires me to be in close contact with people, I also decided to have this condition checked out by a doctor. The doctor put me on sick leave and warned me that these symptoms (she talked of a dangerous virus) were very contagious and I should avoid all contact with other people. I followed her instructions, but I did not use the medication she had prescribed. Instead, I continued with Christian Science treatment.

The practitioner asked me to use the days I was required to take off from work to study deeply the Christian Science Bible Lesson. The subject of the Lesson was “Mind.” Through my study I understood a little more about what this synonymous name for God encompasses and what it means to have only one Mind, namely, the divine Mind, and none other. Christian Science teaches that the body manifests only what is going on in consciousness. So if this consciousness reflects only divine Mind, which is wholly good, then the body cannot produce anything that is not good.

The following passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy especially spoke to me: “Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth” (p. 505). This freed me from the limited belief that I had to devise a complicated process of healing with my own mind. And: “God’s ideas reflect the immortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal, erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguishing between the false and the true” (pp. 505–506). This passage practically jumped out at me. This was what I had desperately been trying to do all this time: to distinguish between the true and the false, between right and wrong, effective and ineffective prayer—all with mortal, limited thinking. An impossible task! But since I am only the reflection of God, of Mind, it is really Mind itself that accomplishes the healing. This conclusion took away my fear and a false feeling of responsibility. The practitioner was also lovingly praying for me the whole time.