Healing of injured knee
Hymn 123 in the Christian Science Hymnal begins with the following words:
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who to God for your refuge have fled.
(words adapt. © CSBD)
The hymn continues, encouraging us to neither fear nor be discouraged, for God aids, upholds, and strengthens us. I clung to this message during an experience when I, indeed, felt God’s “gracious, omnipotent hand” strengthening me, and eventually enabling me to literally stand and walk with unlimited freedom once again.
On a trip last summer, I found myself happily engaged in conversation with someone new while we were both exercising, carrying on much longer than usual. The next day I noticed a problem with my knee that became worse as the week went on. My husband and I had planned on sightseeing during our trip, and being unwilling to alter our preplanned activities, I braved the discomfort and walked a great amount over the next two days. When we finally returned home from the vacation, I found that I much preferred just sitting in a chair, rather than dealing with the difficulty of movement and the resulting pain this condition seemed to present. At that point, I engaged a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me, and I also began to earnestly pray. Much inspired spiritual study followed, bringing a sweet confidence that healing would occur.
At the beginning of Christian Science treatment by the practitioner, the practitioner and I agreed that we first needed to confront and refute four main suggestions that were troubling my thinking:
That I had done something foolish to get myself into this pickle.
That age was a factor.
That I wasn’t going to get better.
That I could be discouraged over the long haul.
To combat the suggestion that I’d done something wrong, we instead recognized God as Truth and Truth as the actual lawgiver. We realized that the law of Spirit was making it clear to me that there was no material law I had transgressed that could have brought this challenge upon me. For Truth destroys what we have learned from the material thinking that would lead us to believe we are mortal and physical. The practitioner and I were firm in knowing that inharmony, not being a law of God, was never for an instant actually a part of my experience.
When I was tempted to believe that my age was a factor, the practitioner helped me see that realizing the truth of my perfect, spiritual being would cause the falling away of all discord. We were affirming that the active presence and operation of Truth becomes manifest in healing and regeneration—restoring whatever seems to have been lost, and removing pain.
To overcome the fear that I wouldn’t recover completely or ever be as good as I once was, I affirmed that God’s idea (me) really is a “together” idea—always complete, not broken or injured. This is the truth about me and everyone. Claiming this for myself quieted my fear.
When I became discouraged about the length of time the healing seemed to be taking, I instead focused on being grateful for all the good I was gaining as a result of my day-to-day study and prayer. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, explains in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “The fact that Truth overcomes both disease and sin reassures depressed hope” (p. 420). I held firm to the idea that Truth is always the victor—it always prevails.
The practitioner and I then explored the term foundation. From this study I learned more of my true foundation, which is spiritual. Every time we acknowledge this truth, we are building our trust in the allness of God; we are standing on the rock of this spiritual truth.
Christian Science teaches that “the procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is fear, ignorance, or sin” (Science and Health, p. 411). So when fear disappears, when we have a clearer understanding of God and gain our freedom from sin, the foundation of disease is gone. In Truth, error has no foundation—nothing to stand on. Age, accidents, and deterioration are only mortal illusions and suggestions that God’s perfect idea can be changed. If God is ever present, then good is ever present and can’t be removed from us for any reason.
My progress was slow but sure. By October I had discarded the use of a cane to get around. By Thanksgiving I had much additional freedom of movement, and the following January I was hiking with my family and could easily manage the steep staircase at my son’s home to read bedtime stories in my grandsons’ nursery. Also, at the New Year I was able to resume my line dancing class and reactivate my gym membership.
I reside in an active adult community where talk often turns to the various aches and pains challenging seniors and the medically related remedies associated with them. This healing has been for me yet another proof that Christian Science treatment is a most effective remedy for our health challenges.
Joy Miller Albins
Fairfield Glade, Tennessee, US
