Finger healed
Several years after we had built a new home, a job opportunity for my husband opened up in a different state. As with most things, my first priority in preparing for the move was to pray. I’ve learned that a willingness to quietly listen for God’s direction always helps to clarify our next steps. I prayed to know that not only would this new job bless my husband’s career, but that the experience and integrity that he would bring to the position would bless our new community as well.
About a week before the move, I slipped on wet grass while carrying things to the car and landed on one of my fingers. The initial pain was intense, but after quieting my thought to hear God’s angel message that He was tenderly caring for me, the pain subsided. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Under divine Providence there can be no accidents, since there is no room for imperfection in perfection” (p. 424 ). I had proved the truth of this statement on other occasions, and this was a source of strength in meeting this challenge. But over the next few days, the finger was quite painful if bumped, and bending it was out of the question. Christian Science has always been an effective healing method for me, so I did not seek medical treatment but merely wrapped it to protect it during the move. Most important, I vigilantly continued to pray to see more clearly my totally spiritual nature.
When there didn’t seem to be any improvement after our move, I quietly prayed and asked God what I needed to understand about this situation. The answer came that I needed to spiritually understand, as never before, that I could never be separated from God, good. Right then I realized that I had been harboring a sense of loss for everything good that I thought I would be leaving behind—my home, my church, my job, my friends, and most of all, our adult daughter. While I had prayerfully cherished what was right for my husband, I hadn’t really included myself in those prayers. I needed to see that because this move was God-directed, it would bless everyone, including me. I felt led to study more deeply “A Rule for Motives and Acts” (Article VIII, Section 1 ) in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy.
It begins, “Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment should impel the motives or acts of the members of The Mother Church” (p. 40). While I had often focused on the reference to “animosity,” I had never really delved into what Mrs. Eddy was telling us about “personal attachment.” I realized I had been indulging in “personal attachment” by believing that the source of my joy and completeness was in a material sense of home, church, and family.
Science and Health tells us, “Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul” (p. 269 ). I took each “object of sense”—our home, for example—and prayed to understand it as a pure idea of Soul. I saw that my home was, in fact, eternally with God. My church was the “structure of Truth and Love” (p. 583 ). My job was to express and glorify God wherever I was. And our daughter, as God’s purely spiritual idea, belonged to and was cared for by her Father-Mother God. As I let these truths flood my consciousness, I was able to joyously begin to settle into my new home, church, and community. Shortly after this, I realized that my finger was no longer painful.
Several weeks later when the suggestion came that I might never be able to bend this finger as readily as the others, I quietly affirmed that because I had never been separated from God, I could not be subject to any aftereffect. I am most grateful to report that this proved to be true, and I shortly regained full use of the finger.
I am so grateful for Christian Science and for what I am learning each day about my inseparable relationship to God.
Sanda S. Thomson
Savannah, Georgia, US
