One day my mother and I made a trip to a nearby city to run some errands. While we were there, we had lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. After beginning to eat our appetizer, suddenly I couldn’t swallow because of a sharp object lodged in my throat. It hurt a lot, but I could still breathe.

It was quite noisy in the restaurant, so I moved to a quiet location to pray. My mother had the server box up our meals as quickly as possible, and we returned to the car. While she was driving us back home, several comforting hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal came to thought that reminded me that God was with me. One verse that was particularly comforting is the following: 

In prayer, I affirmed simple truths about my inseparable relation to God, including that nothing could interfere with it. Once we arrived home, I continued to pray quietly, and also called a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. After retiring to my room, I propped up a pillow for my head to rest on, which allowed me to continue to breathe as normally as possible. While I was in that position, I prayed further.

After a short period of peace, I fell asleep, but was suddenly awakened by a frightening thought—the word asphyxiate. But right on the heels of this, it came to me in prayer with great conviction and strength that nothing could snuff out my life because God is my Life, and He is the only Life.

I felt calmer and more receptive as to what to do next. Although it seemed humanly impossible for me to swallow, I felt a sweet reassurance from God to not fear. And as I drank some water, I could finally feel the painful object moving slowly down to the point where I knew it was gone from my throat. I was free.

Overwhelmed with gratitude by what had just occurred, which was evident in my smile, joy, and sense of freedom, I was elated to share the details of my healing experience with my mother. The next day, when I felt sore, I read these words in another hymn:

This stanza helped me realize that this was all simply like a bad dream. A dream has no power—dreams are not reality—and I could rejoice in the eternal freedom that had always belonged to me and that I was expressing now as God’s perfect, beloved child. The soreness left, and this healing has remained permanent, without any aftereffects.

I have had other healings—a fractured foot, colds, discordant relationships, the flu, and more. This healing, however, seemed to be one of the more profound reminders to me that God, Life, is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. He is the ever-conscious Life, Mind—the Mind of all—and we, as ideas of this ever-conscious Being, can never actually lose the consciousness of our spiritual identity in any given situation. We are forever safe in infinite Mind, in the Life that is our Father-Mother, who is always caring for our every need.

Teri Howard
Las Cruces, New Mexico, US