Burn on child’s face healed
When our middle child was about seven years old, she came home from a neighbor’s house on a Friday afternoon, went to the freezer, and got an ice pack to put against her cheek. I could see that she was fighting back tears. When I asked her what was going on, she showed me her cheek, which had a dark red burn mark on it. She had been doing an art project with her friend next door and had accidentally leaned the side of her face against a hot iron while reaching across the table for supplies. We called a Christian Science practitioner together for prayerful treatment. The practitioner prayed for our daughter right away. She reminded us of the biblical promise of safety for God’s children.
The following statements, one from the Bible and the others from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, beautifully capture some of the ideas we leaned on for inspiration and healing: “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders” (Deuteronomy 33:12); “Under divine Providence there can be no accidents, since there is no room for imperfection in perfection” (p. 424); “Have no fear that matter can ache, swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have no pain nor inflammation” (p. 393).
Prayer was immediately effective. Within minutes, my daughter asked, “Are we done yet? Can I go play outside?” She bounced off happily, and I gave gratitude to God for the healing of the pain. She never mentioned pain or any other discomfort related to the burn again.
On Monday morning when we were getting ready for school, the burn mark had spread to cover most of her cheek, but it didn’t bother her. I thought it wise to notify her teachers and the principal in case anyone at school was concerned. The teachers were very gracious and helped the other kids at school not pay too much attention to it that day.
After several weeks, the mark was still very visible, and our daughter was getting tired of other kids asking her, “What happened to your face?” I continued to pray every day, asking God to help me know that there could be no record of an incident that, according to the Science of Christ taught in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings, had never touched her true identity as a child of God. I was concerned that the mark might become permanent, and I wanted our daughter to be completely free, for her own comfort. Because she’d had such a quick healing of the pain weeks earlier, I felt I could also pray to understand that there could be no scarring. Since the divine law that keeps us safe meant that in reality she was already free of any scar, we could expect its complete removal from her experience.
Finally, this diligent prayer helped me to deeply understand that her true identity was entirely free of any record of the event.
One day soon after that, we went to pick up her sister from swim practice. She was in the habit of hopping out of the car to go find her sister and say hi to the other kids. But that day she hesitated and asked with a sigh, “Mom, what do I do if they ask me, ‘What happened to your face?’ ” I chuckled and said, “Just look them in the eye and say, ‘What happened to your face?’ ” She was so surprised by this suggestion that we both laughed out loud.
As it turned out, that laughter was just what we both needed to break through the fear and the mesmeric nature of this problem. (One thing I have appreciated learning in my study of Christian Science is the valuable role laughter can play in healing.) That was the last day I remember thinking about the mark on her cheek or it being mentioned by anyone. Soon, I couldn’t remember which side of her face it had been on; there was no trace of it.
Healing came about through the joyful recognition that our daughter’s perfection and safety are established by God’s love and are permanent, and this removed all evidence of a burn from her face. It’s been over six years since this occurred.
We are so grateful for this demonstration of the practicality of Christian Science prayer. I’m grateful for the numerous examples of safety we can read about in the Bible and for Mrs. Eddy’s selfless service in illuminating the spiritual sense of the Bible through her writings.
Veronica Kline
Beverly, Massachusetts, US
