During a recent family visit, my wife and I were invited to participate in an afternoon game of bowling with our children and grandchildren. I mused to myself that it must have been fifty years since I last went bowling, but we were happy to join in the activity and looked forward to having fun and spending time with everyone.

Upon our arrival at the bowling alley, we all acquired the necessary gear and were assigned to our lane. Lots of laughter and encouragement heralded the start of our friendly games. Early on, though, I sustained an injury that caused a sharp pain in the back of my thigh. Because I had participated in and coached sports for many years, it was evident to me that the injury was a pulled hamstring. I was aware that the prevailing opinion in medical circles was that such injuries needed immediate rest and could take days, or even weeks, to heal.

However, I continued on so as not to spoil the activity for the rest of the family. But by the time we returned home, the injured area was quite painful. 

I decided to treat the injury as I had learned to do in Christian Science—by praying to God. I recalled an article from an older issue of the Sentinel that I had read that very morning. In it, the author noted the importance of dismissing the belief that we possess a life separate from God. In particular, the following proposition intrigued me:

“In criminal law, if a man charged with an offense can prove an alibi, he is at once acquitted; for it is self-evident that no one can be in two different places at the same time. So let us through spiritual understanding establish our alibi: let us know that we were not there when the alleged offense was committed; we were in God, and ever have been, for ‘in him we live, and move, and have our being.’ To be free from mortal beliefs we should make no false mental admissions; we must concede to error no more reality in the so-called past than in the present . . .” (Ira W. Packard, “Justification,” May 10, 1913). 

As I started to pray, I returned to this statement. Having been trained as a lawyer, I was drawn to this analogy, and it was as if the proverbial light bulb lit up! I saw clearly that I had never sustained an injury during an event thought to have taken place in a material existence. I had an airtight alibi for the false charge that I had been injured: As the creation of Spirit, God, I am wholly spiritual, and therefore was never affected by anything happening in a supposed material existence. Rather, as explained by the Apostle Paul, I had always lived, moved, and had my being in my Father-Mother God (see Acts 17:28). 

I also held closely to this statement from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “Life is, always has been, and ever will be independent of matter; for Life is God, and man is the idea of God, not formed materially but spiritually, and not subject to decay and dust” (p. 200).

I immediately felt liberated and continued to think about other helpful spiritual truths, such as, “. . . we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain” (Science and Health, p. 573).

I went to sleep peacefully that evening. When I awakened the next morning, there was no pain in my leg at all. I was able to get up and be active the whole day and for the rest of our visit.

In gratitude for Jesus’ perpetual promise: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), I submit this testimony of healing.

Tim Terry
Bandon, Oregon, US