It was another mild and sunny day in California in December. My family was on vacation with relatives for the holidays, and during lunch, just before nap time, our younger son began to cough aggressively. While the state of California at that time had moved to safely and fully reopen, Covid-19 was still a major concern for many, so my wife and I began to pray to alleviate fear. The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, explains, “When fear disappears, the foundation of disease is gone” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 368).

We knew we needed to fully replace the fear with a firm understanding of God’s present care for our child and our family. While we wanted to address fear through prayer, we were mindful of those around us who didn’t practice Christian Science, so we ended our lunch and took our children to our bedroom for nap time. My wife and I knew that our younger son needed to be healed, and immediately. Gratefully, we also had a spiritual conviction that this could be healed right then through Christian Science treatment.

After getting our older son down for his nap, my wife and I let his little brother rest with us. He was hot, uncomfortable, and coughing. We gave him the focused attention and love the situation deserved and did our best to make him comfortable, while praying to understand his true, spiritual identity as a child of God.

In my metaphysical treatment for him, I focused on the eternal reality of God as Life, which is an idea that the Bible brings out. I decided to write down my ideas about Life being our son’s loving Father—that our son knew his divine Father, heard His instruction, and felt His care. As these ideas came to me, I saw beyond a personal sense of fatherhood and responsibility for our son to more clearly recognize that because he is God’s own child, illness cannot be part of his experience because illness is not of God, good. As the reflection of Life, our son is full of health and vitality. My prayers affirmed the present reality of God as Love, and the fact that our son joyously knew Love and could express only the purity and freedom of Love. This helped quiet my fears and assured me that God was with him and that he could feel God’s loving presence. 

Lastly, my treatment handled the false claim that there could be any power other than God and affirmed that this treatment couldn’t be reversed. To me, this point, humbly and honestly claimed, reminds us that spiritual healing is complete and final. And of course it is, because the healing doesn’t come from us but from God.

As I began to give gratitude to God and cherish these inspired ideas, I noticed that our son was peacefully asleep. His normal temperature and his sweet, normal breathing had returned. Looking to God had brought the healing. We were overjoyed. My wife and I shared the thoughts that we’d each been praying with, thanked God for this expeditious demonstration of health, and moved our son to his own bed. 

All of this took place within 45 minutes. There was no return of the problem. Our son awoke later, his joyful and free self. We continued to express gratitude and cherish this healing for the rest of our visit by knowing that this freedom applied to everyone in the home, and no one displayed any similar symptoms. We are both so grateful for this healing. Thank you, Father, for the freedom that Christian Science gives us.

Austin Kingsbery
Winthrop, Massachusetts, US

This was a significant demonstration to our family of the effectiveness of turning to God in prayer in any situation. When our two-year-old son began coughing hard during this trip, we moved to our room to have a quiet place to pray. My husband and I each prayed for our son and affirmed his identity as a perfect child of God—eternally loved, cared for, and protected. We were so grateful to see complete harmony restored within an hour. Our son was his healthy, happy self, and we all enjoyed the rest of the day and the visit.

Grace Kingsbery