'Frozen shoulder' healed

Early last year I experienced a loss of movement in one of my shoulders and, at times, excruciating pain in that shoulder as well. I have for many years studied the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, which have given me a deeper understanding of God as Life, our very substance and consciousness, entirely separate from a material identification of ourselves. It was natural for me to pray about this condition, since prayer has brought harmony to discordant conditions of all kinds in my life before.

Because my family, who are not Christian Scientists, did not like to see me in discomfort, they asked if I would go to the doctor and I did. I was given a diagnosis of “frozen shoulder” and was referred to a specialist. However, the doctor couldn’t promise that anything could be done about the condition, and warned that I might have to cope with the discomfort for up to 18 months. I was happy that the referral was for some months away, and contacted a Christian Science practitioner for spiritual treatment in the meantime.

Interestingly, the practitioner I worked with had already overcome this same condition herself through Christian Science treatment alone. We started by taking a look at the words of Hymn 430 in the Christian Science Hymnal Supplement Hymns 430-462, which begins:

The practitioner and I discussed how it’s natural that physical healing results “from the operation of divine Principle,” as Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. xi ). All healing takes place in thought as we understand our status as God’s expression. Jesus says that “whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23 ). To me that meant I could understand and trust in the spiritual facts I was learning and be a witness to healing.

During that time I had also been seeking a better understanding of God and of His perfect creation, including man made in His image and likeness—not a fleshy likeness, but purely spiritual. It was real food for thought to ask myself the question: If matter is subject to change, disruption, and death—in other words, if it doesn’t last, but is only temporary—how can it be said to be real? Isn’t what is real and substantial something unchanging and eternal, like divine Love, divine Spirit? I prayed to see that I reflect all the good qualities of God, that Spirit is my real substance. I daily read the Bible and Science and Health, and found this passage from the latter especially helpful: “Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind? We must look where we would walk, and we must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we have our being” (p. 264 ).

As I thought less about my shoulder and more about spiritual reality over the next several weeks, my body came into conformity with this spiritual harmony. I didn’t even notice exactly when I became completely free, but I regained painless mobility in my shoulder, and haven’t had a problem with it since.

I am so thankful for the dominion that comes through spiritual understanding, which was proved through Jesus’ life and explained by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. What a blessing the dedicated study of Christian Science is proving to be. With each and every healing experience, we can trust more and more in unfolding spiritual understanding.

Suzanne Hope-Wynne
Epsom, Surrey, England