Prayer for people with disabilities

In this active chat, Tony and site visitors offer many thoughts about recognizing the spiritual nature of each individual and how this can support healing for those dealing with disabilities. Tony responds to questions from parents about caring for children who are disabled physically or mentally. An adult caring for her mother asks for guidance on how to pray about dementia. Loss of vision and other physical disabilities are addressed. Site visitors also share their own experiences of helping children and adults who are disabled.

The transcribed text has been edited for clarity.

Rosalie Dunbar: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another spirituality.com live question and answer audio event. My name is Rosalie Dunbar, and I’ll be your host for the next hour. Our topic today is “Prayer for people with disabilities,” and our guest is Tony Lobl, a practitioner of Christian Science from London, England. Tony has held a number of posts for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in addition to his work as a Christian Science healer. He has also written articles for the magazines sponsored on this Website, and has been a guest on some previous chats. Some of you probably will remember him, and have enjoyed his presence before. We’re happy to have him with us again. Tony, it’s great to have you here.

Tony Lobl: Thanks Rosalie. We don’t have snow here but we’ve got plenty of the cold.

Rosalie: Do you have some thoughts to get us started?

Tony: Yeah, one thing I just was thinking about. I’m here because I do some work with legislatures on behalf of the Church, looking out for bills that might be passing through Parliament that might have an impact on the practice of Christian Science healing, or more broadly, prayer-based spiritual healing. In the Parliament in UK, just a few years ago there was a bill going through Parliament called the “mental incapacity bill.” As it was having its first and second reading in Parliament, there was a lot of objections from some of the non-profit organizations that care about these kind of conditions, and help and support people with them. They were basically saying this showed me called a “mental capacity bill,” because the bill was about helping people when they are mentally incapacitated, but it was to do it by allowing them to make decisions when they had full capacity. So they were saying this is about mental capacity, not about mental incapacity. And indeed, the government changed the name of the bill, and when it was passed through Parliament it was called “The mental capacity Act.” So I’ve been thinking about what we’re talking about tonight, the challenge of disabilities, which of course, can be really severe. They can vary greatly. But at the end of the day, what we’re really trying to do, and trying to get a clearer handle on its ability. And fundamentally I think, or basically, we would say in Christian Science, that God is a God of ability and that we’re striving to perceive and demonstrate that man reflects the ability of God. So it’s about the ability of God, and it’s about the ability of man. There’s one particular quote in one of the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, where she’s talking about the life of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, and she says: “With Christ, Life was not merely a sense of existence, but a sense of might and ability to subdue material conditions” (Unity of Good, p. 42 ). Be it modest, or be it mighty, we’re really in the business of that—we’re nurturing that ability “to subdue material conditions.” Lots of us have had some experience of that, and we’re always working to make that more apparent. There’s one more other aspect I think is key when we’re talking about disability as a challenge, because often things are not healed quickly. There’s often care involved for people who are suffering from a disability, there’s often long periods of progress, step-by-step progress. And so I love to look at the example of Jesus. Before Jesus healed, in the Bible it often said, “He had compassion” on whoever he was going to heal. And I think that quality of compassion is one that I think we’re going to return to a lot tonight, because it’s really one that we need to feel, both in terms of caring for those who need care, and in terms of nurturing our ability to heal, as we look to heal conditions as well. So if we can think a bit about ability as inherent, and compassion as something we want to nurture and develop, I think those two things will help sort of set some benchmarks as we go forward.

Rosalie: I think that’s a great idea, and appreciate so much, particularly that quotation from Mrs. Eddy’s writings that you read. It’s quite a remarkable statement and I’m grateful that you mentioned it.

Tony: Shall I read it again?

Rosalie: Yes, that would be nice.

Tony: All right. It is from Unity of Good, in case anyone wants to look it up in Mary Baker Eddy’s writings, and they have a copy, on page 42. She says, “With Christ, Life was not merely a sense of existence, but a sense of might and ability to subdue material conditions.”

Rosalie: I think that’s a very special statement—”not merely a sense of existence.”

Tony: Yeah, well, isn’t that key?

Rosalie: Yes. Now, James from St. Louis has sent us a question. He says: “I have two children born with physical limitations similar to the same muscle deficiencies of their mother. I’ve worked years to un-see these errors as not part of their identity, their true, spiritual nature. I obviously have not done a very good job of holding to the right truths because the problem, although it has not gotten worse, still persists. They’re both in their twenties now and I know it bothers them to not be normal like their siblings and friends. How can I look beyond this sense of lack to see them as God knows them?”

Tony: Well, it certainly sounds that there’s been a lot of loving, patient prayer that’s already been put into practice there. We just want to cherish ourselves as we endeavor to cherish others. I think the thing that comes to us, that we haven’t been holding the right thought—I mean these are challenging situations, and we want to see, obviously, complete freedom. That’s always something we hold dear as an aspiration. But how wonderful that there’s been a sense of retaining the position, and holding that position, as these dear ones have gone forward and found their way through life. And, again, it’s wonderful to get beyond the sense of the problem, to the sense of the individual—in two cases here, we’re talking about two individuals who each have a unique place in life, a unique contribution to make, and need to be, and are rightly, uniquely valued. I do think that as we hold thought of another, cherishing healing, certainly one wants to look at it and see progress. But sometimes there’s huge progress just in different aspects of experience. They live more fully, or expanded in one’s experience. Again, it helps to look at this word disability and think about ability. What are the abilities these two wonderful youngsters have? What are their unique abilities that they’re putting into practice that no one else is because it’s there’s to do? I did spend a year working after my university on a program with—it was really to get school children to work together with people who were considered to have a disability. It was a lovely project because they were asked to design things that would help people who couldn’t do certain things, to do them. And so it was a kind of technical project, but the idea about it was that they had to engage with the people they were working for. When they did this, it was just wonderful how they did—and this had nothing, of course, to do with Christian Science, this was just about a good idea someone had had for a project to engage young people with the problems of those who are disabled—and these children, it broke down all their barriers, and just seeing the disability, as it were, and they saw the ability of these people they were helping, and then, in a very practical way, helped them to express those abilities and to take them a step forward. And so I think in cherishing individuals, let’s really cherish their abilities and see through to the child of God consistently, as this individual clearly has. And just look for every sign of progress with great gratitude.

Rosalie: I think, too, it’s often tempting when one is a parent, to feel responsible for the child’s progress, or to have some sort of—maybe even an unconscious—feeling of biological or other failure. And prayer about heredity, in this particular case, might be something that would lift that feeling, both off the mother and off the father, if both of them have that feeling. And I think that it’s very important to see each individual as being cared for by God and being the outcome of God’s purpose, even if we can’t see sort of the human perfection that we would expect, recognizing God’s care for that individual, and the qualities that God has given them. I’m thinking of some of the disabled people that I have had contact with other the years, and I’ve always been impressed at the unexpected good that often comes as a result of these contacts with them in their unique approach to things—in skills and talents that they have that are unique to them in their own way of expressing goodness. So it’s kind of important to, if possible, see them from a spiritual standpoint, and not necessarily expect them to follow a material model. Look for the spiritual model, and then the material model, so to speak—the human model—will begin to conform to the clarity of that spiritual vision. At least, that’s one way of dealing with it, don’t you think, Tony?

Tony: Yeah, I love the idea of really holding to the completeness and the value that’s already fully there. As you say, in our interactions with individuals who have what seem very visible disabilities, the qualities, the spirituality, the ability to bless, is complete within them, and that is something we can open our hearts to. And certainly, the more we’re willing to look from a spiritual perspective, the easier it is to perceive that, and support the expression of it.

Rosalie: Yes. Nancy from Connecticut says: “How do we overcome the belief of permanency, when we’ve had the belief of injury for a long period of time, and the alleged symptoms keep appearing? Additionally, if I try to carry on as a person who has not suffered an injury, family and others keep reminding me of what I should not be doing.”

Tony: Well, it’s often a challenge working with different concepts of how we should follow our highest sense of the right care. Working with families, it’s certainly important to see that there really is care that’s being expressed, when people have different views of what we should do. I think it’s so important that we know that we can really listen for guidance as to what steps to take in any situation. I’ve certainly seen this in my practice where different people with similar situations have felt guided differently as to what steps to take at different times. But in terms of the permanency, again, to chip away at something that really isn’t the way that God sees us and sees God’s creation, including each of us. Whether it be an obvious thing, like a disability, or whether it be emotional things, or even moral things, most people are dealing with something that would come to them, claiming to be permanent and persistent and unyielding. It’s very intense to have that sense that this isn’t going to give up or this isn’t giving up. But things do, actually, eventually yield to the fact that they are really no part of God’s creation. It does demand sometimes constancy, persistence, but they can be breakthrough moments—wonderful clarity coming, where we just feel God’s wonderful presence and absolute power. And then the scene shifts. Someone once helped me a lot by talking about the difference betweentransformation and change when we’re dealing with things through the metaphysical approach of prayer. Because we’re often sort of, if you like, through a human need, we’re constantly guided to look for the change. We want to see the change—we want to see the change. But, actually, as we pray, as we affirm God’s presence, as we identify ourselves as God’s children, as God’s creations—as Christian Science helps us to do through its theology, expressed in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which wonderfully illumines the Bible and what it was Jesus was showing us in his healing—as we keep affirming that, what I was sort of helped to see is that each moment of recognition, no matter how tiny that might be, is a transformation of thought. And it’s a transformation in the right direction. It’s like these transformations are leading us along the path towards that place, where yes, change will take place, can take place. But the change will be like the aftermath of these wonderful transformations which bring us a whole new spiritual sense of ourselves, a whole new spiritual sense of our loved ones, a whole new spiritual sense of the world, and above all, a whole new spiritual sense of God, and what God is as Love—as pure, unadulterated, unconditional Love. And so it helps if we can begin to cherish and value every transformation, and really almost affirm in prayer that those transformations are going on daily, as we’re working towards the desired change, trying not to get so caught up with the desire for the change, that we miss the transformations along the way.

Rosalie: Yes, I think that’s a very important point because sometimes we do get kind of stuck in viewing things without perceiving that actually the individual is already changing. Change may be gradual but it’s there.

Tony: Yeah, I think we should really anticipate that that’s always going on, as prayer is going on, as an understanding of God’s filling our thoughts.

Rosalie: And even if the change isn’t evident, I think we need to trust that change is taking place, and sometimes then, suddenly everything falls into place at once. So you never can really outline what’s going on, you just need to keep working on it.

Tony: Yeah, that’s absolutely true, and before the program I did a little search through the Christian Science magazines, and I found some wonderful healings on multiple sclerosis—which there were about three specific healings I found from recent periodicals. The way the change came was different, really, in the three cases—some quicker than others. But it was wonderful to read these healings because these are conditions—in at least two of the three accounts of healing, it said how these people, they were going to see doctors, and they were getting diagnosed, and all that stuff, and the very hard thing for them to handle when they had the diagnosis, was the doctor said, “Well, we don’t really understand how this comes about, nor do we really have anything that can actually cure it.” And in each of the cases, they then turned to a Christian Science approach to healing, and looking for a way of not just managing the symptoms, but actually finding a way beyond the condition. They found that solution, they found that change. But there were transformations along the way. There were lessons learned, which had to come together, and these were lessons about who God is, and who these individuals were, really, as the beloved of God, the cherished children of God. It involved this spiritual awakening, which then did result in the change. It’s very heartening to read that, and know that, yes, it may be a struggle, it may be a journey, it may be hard, but there is a reason for hope because there is the possibility of healing.

Rosalie: Now, Renate, who lives near Frankfurt, Germany, said: “One of the best things was to meet two young women over the years at different times, both of which had been labeled mentally handicapped. Their parents, on the basis of God’s law, did not accept the situation as fact or as incurable, and the girls became normal. One of the young women was even studying linguistics at the time I met her.” That’s a very heartening standpoint, and an offering of an example of someone who has helped to overcome that.

Tony: It is lovely, and I think I’d invite the listeners here to not only share questions but share some of these things with us, because I think we have a lot of people listening in who certainly need encouragement. They need a reason for the hope that is within them—to use Bible language. Just to hear of these successes is heartening, and gives us a sense of the reason to persist, the reason to carry on. That’s great.

Rosalie: Right. Now this one is from someone named Hannah in Bellevue, Washington. She says: “What specific truth would you suggest for the belief of hemophilia when you know some children with that belief?”

Tony: Well, I’m not sure I can offer a specific truth because I think—well, my experience in praying for people, is the truth one needs comes specifically as one’s praying, and there really are no formulas for a particular condition. Mrs. Eddy does talk in Science and Health in various places about the blood, and we’re not looking to our blood for our life. We’re looking away from the body to the source of life being divine Life, God. We can always do that in our prayers. It’s something that is very foundational in Christian Science. There really is one Life, and that Life is divine Spirit, or God. And that God is infinite good. And so, if we can lift our sense of where life comes from—not only for ourselves—but for everyone in our thoughts—especially our near and dear ones—then that is a spiritual embrace, if you like, of our loved ones. And those spiritual embraces help support these transformations which can lead to change.

Rosalie: There’s something I wanted to mention for those of you—because I’m looking at the questions and seeing quite a number of questions that relate to birth, or birth defects. In Mary Baker Eddy’s Miscellaneous Writings, she has a very short, little article called, “The New Birth.” It starts on page 15 there. I would really recommend taking a look at that, because it has many very helpful comments, one of which is: “The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love.” And I think in addressing some of these birth defects, obviously some of it is heredity, but also as you’re working with these individuals, there may be qualities of thought that need to be given up or purified or seen rightly, and in your prayerful work you can do, impersonally, simply by seeing that child as perfect and made in God’s likeness, and therefore not having any destructive or harmful element anywhere in its being. Another thing that I’ve found very helpful is—Mary Baker Eddy has, well, it’s a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal, but it’s also a poem, called “Blest Christmas Morn.” In that, it talks about there being no “earth-born taint” (No. 23 ). And if you go through that hymn very carefully, you’ll find some really helpful ideas, referring to “Thou gentle beam of living Love, / And deathless Life!” And that concept of disabled or in some way having a defective child, “Thou gentle beam of living Love, / And deathless Life!” That is so beautiful and that is really what is true. It really is. Each of us is a “gentle beam of living Love,” each of us has that “deathless Life.” And if you think about a “gentle beam of living Love,” it has no defect, no darkness, no disease. It is just the light of Christ, the light of God’s love shining, and presenting itself. And that’s really our being. You can rejoice in that with others. And that doesn’t mean it isn’t tough, because I’ve had interactions that I’ve found extremely difficult, but to whatever degree you can see and feel yourself and others within that context of the Christ-light and the spiritual essence of who you are—the “gentle beam of living Love, / And deathless Life!” then progress becomes easier, and your interactions with those people will become simpler and more uplifting and less burdensome. I just wanted to add that. I hope you don’t mind, Tony.

Tony: Beautiful, no please, that’s absolutely stellar, thank you.

Rosalie: Now, this is from Carol in St. Louis, Missouri. She says: “My mom is 89 and a lifelong Christian Scientist who is now experiencing dementia, and effects of a stroke. She remembers favorite verses from the Bible and Science and Health. When I say them to her, she joins in. She reads her Lesson with help, and reads the periodicals. However, the loss of memory seems to be an obstacle. I know that divine Mind is in operation always, regardless of what the mortal mind seems to do. But do you have practical advice for working with someone who doesn’t remember the conversation or what she reads, and seems not able to work for her own progress anymore?”

Tony: You know what I’d like to do here, is start with a little healing I heard, which really impressed me. It’s actually not specifically a healing of a Christian Scientist, or by a Christian Scientist. I think in a way I find that encouraging—that there’s healing going on through spiritual understanding around us. We can celebrate that, and learn from it. But this was told by a professor of psychiatric nursing, and it was about a nurse in a care home where someone was suffering from exactly those conditions, and it was degenerating. The individual’s walking up and down the corridor, and this nurse went and started walking beside her, just quietly listening to what she was saying—really muttering under her breath, was the impression I got. And she was muttering God’s name, and the nurse just thought about that, and she said to the individual, “Are you scared that you’re going to forget God?” And the individual said, “Yes,” she was. And the nurse said to her, “Well, dear, God is never going to forget you.” And this individual had an instant remission, as they would call it—turnaround from the Alzheimer’s that she was diagnosed as suffering. This just, I think, shows that the power of reconnecting us to the reality of God, can really turn things around, in even some of the conditions that seem most disturbing and frightening to us. So, we can always hold that high aspiration in our hearts.

Rosalie: Oh, that’s wonderful. This is from someone in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada: “I’ve received healings through Christian Science, although I do not understand God. My concern today is that of my brother who was born with a disability which I will not specify. It’s more than fifty years since. Can he be healed? And what are your recommendations for his healing?”

Tony: Well, I think the underlying truth, Biblical truth—the truth in Science and Health, the truth of Christian Science is “All things are possible to God” (e.g., see Mark 10:27 ,Science and Health, p. 1 ). What we’re each doing as individuals, is trying to increase our real clarity in understanding the nature of God as the Healer, so that we see more healing in our lives, and in the lives of others who ask us to help them. So I think we can always do more, because we can always do more to, if you like, yield. It sounds like an old-fashioned word, but I think it’s such a helpful one—to yield to that spiritual reality of God’s nature as this boundless, ceaseless, Love that can heal all things, and that is inviting us to grow in the humble capacity to perceive, recognize, not only God’s nature but the nature of man as God has created man, which, again, through the Bible, and the example of Jesus, and through the ideas expressed in Mary Baker Eddy’s writings, we understand to be qualitatively as perfect as the creator, God. And it’s a very simple, key phrase inScience and Health which is just very helpful to hold to. It says: “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man, the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick”(pp. 476-477 ). We have some wonderful examples of Mary Baker Eddy, for instance, obviously getting to that clearer perception of that truth, that she healed some very intractable conditions. And so, the possibility’s always there, and our prayers are just to get clearer, and again, as I said, every time we do, if the whole condition doesn’t immediately lift, are we seeing progress? Are we seeing the individual things changing? Are we gaining an appreciation for the transformations along the way?

Rosalie: I think that’s very true. Now this one is from someone in Oakland, California. And she says, “I’m a student of Christian Science, and I have two relatives who are presently diagnosed as disabled—my brother who has had a brain tumor and can’t walk or talk, and a cousin who is now a quadriplegic from an auto accident. How can I pray for them effectively? I’m trying to see their present perfection and have difficulty clearing my mind from the physical picture to get a better spiritual view of them.”

Tony: Well, bless you. That’s what I would call a “full in-tray.” One’s heart goes out to all the individuals you’re referring to, and of course yourself, in your desire to see progress for them. I don’t think any little drop of clear perception of who others are as God’s children goes wasted. I think every little thing is helping—just like little drops of rain on a drought-ridden landscape, are beginning to prepare the way for the monsoon to come. We do what we can, and one thing I think we should try to do, through prayer, is to not let discouragement take root in our thoughts, when we are faced with such a host of pictures being presented to us of our loved ones struggling with these challenges. But, one thing that’s encouraged me—a lot of our listeners will probably know this, it’s the film with Lionel Logue, and The King’s Speech, where Lionel Logue is someone who helped the King’s speech with a stammering problem, which is obviously modest compared to the package of problems we’ve just heard about. But I think one thing the film does, it really helps you see stammering as disabling to an individual in what they’re trying to achieve. And as a result of watching that movie and seeing that Lionel Logue, through his therapeutic approach, and through his good qualities, had made a difference to the King, but hadn’t obviously cured him totally, but enabled him to speak as he needed to speak. With the help of a wonderful individual at Journal, Sentinel, and Herald, who pulled out healings of stammering that have appeared in the periodicals in the last decade or so, there are about eight of them I’ve got in front of me, actually stuck up on the wall, and it’s actually a good condition to sort of explore a bit, because it seems clear, not only in these healings from the Christian Science periodicals, but from another man I read a healing of in the London Evening Standard recently. It’s much clearer, the mental challenges that are resulting in the physical disability, if you like. So it’s an interesting case study, because what we’re trying to do, as we’re praying in Christian Science for healing, is to let the inspiration of divine Mind, God, reveal to us what are some of the mental obstacles to healing? What are preventing these transformations from leading us to the change? And so, in many of these different healings, two of the clearest ones are fear, and the lack of confidence. And these are totally mental things, and yet they come out in this very physical stammer. In the movie you see Lionel Logue, the character, trying to help the King overcome his fear, and he mentions that three times in the movie, which is really interesting. This man in the Evening Standard it was a lack of confidence. He found a resource that enabled him to feel confident, and he got through without a stammer. And then in these wonderful healings in the testimonies—sometimes it’s qualities like resentment, or someone mentioned even hatred that he was feeling, that was his bar to feeling the freedom. And as Christian Science helped him recognize, and then relieve himself of these thoughts, then the freedom came. And the reason I mention this, is because as this dear individual is really striving to hold the right thought of these loved ones, we don’t know what it might reveal to them about something that they have been burdened by mentally, which they didn’t even perhaps recognize, which they will see, and be able to move beyond, and then their transformations are going forward. And step by step that can lead to the change that they’re wanting, too. So it’s those little raindrops of our right thinking, and getting that clarity. We don’t know how it’s refreshing the ground around us that we’re caring about, but we can trust and pray that it is.

Rosalie: Well, that’s such a lovely comment. And we have a few comments from listeners. This is from Harry in Boston, who says: “A comment to encourage others. As a person with a disability, I know at the age I am I used to see it as a struggle, but now I see it as a blessing.” So that’s one person. And Kate from Florida says: “This week’s Bible Lesson begins with, “. . . I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh . . .” (from Joel 2:28 in the Bible), would you comment on our coinciding our humanness with our spiritualness?”

Tony: Well, that’s an interesting question. There is a coincidence—the divine embracing the human, is how it’s phrased in Mary Baker Eddy’s writings (see Science and Health, p. 561 ). I think it’s a deep subject, and it’s food for thought. We were talking about compassion earlier. When Jesus healed, and it was the compassion that led to whatever spiritual recognition he had that led to the change that came about, I think of that compassion as a very human quality, but it’s from a divine source, it’s inspired by divine Love within us. If we can open our thoughts to those human qualities like compassion, patience—all those things—whether we’re suffering from a disability or caring for someone who’s disabled, it’s creating, if you like—I feel anyway—a more receptive environment for the real, spiritual insights to come to thought that can pack a punch and really make a difference, both in terms of one’s spiritual perception of what’s going on, and one’s actual, practical experience. I think that’s one thing, probably just going back to the previous question, where you’re trying to keep a right thought about people struggling who you want to help—compassion is expressed humanly. We certainly don’t ever want to get into a mindset where we’re so busy holding the right thought, that we’re stuck in that framework without remembering the compassion, the human empathy, the ways we embrace people right where they are, and allow them to embrace us right where we are, whether we’re caring for them directly, or just caring for them because we know them. That is an expression of divinity, that compassionate human caring. I think we all have to give our heartfelt thanks to all those who are sometimes giving their lives to caring for people who have needs, and often doing it with such love, and unselfed benevolence, and just humility. There’s just an enormous—I feel, anyway—overflow and outflow of godliness that finds its expression in human compassion.

Rosalie: I agree with you. Now we have two nice comments here. This is from Zella in North Carolina: “When I was a teenager, living in Southern California, I witnessed the healing of a man in his thirties, who had a mental impairment from his birth. He was a social outcast with no friends, but attended our church with his mom. When we first moved there my dad was a new practitioner and befriended him. They began to pray daily together. I’m sorry to say I was too impressed with the symptoms to have any interaction with this fellow, but nevertheless the Christ was there, and I witnessed a complete transformation and healing that came about through prayer in Christian Science. At the time we moved away two years later, this fellow held a job, had gotten his driver’s license, and a regular girlfriend.”

Tony: Great!

Rosalie: And then this is from Mary, who’s writing from the United States. She says: “Jesus said in John 14:12 , ‘and greater works than these will his followers do.’ I’ve often thought what greater can we do than raise the dead? Recently I’ve thought that walking and loving patients in support over a long period of time with someone with any trouble could be seen as a ‘greater thing.’ We have no example of Jesus sticking with someone over a long period of time. He gave us the principles, and now we apply them to some really difficult things that make rapid healing of small ailments seem almost like the least of our troubles. We are doing greater things. We are persevering and staying loving over long periods of time. This must be doing all of us great, great good.”

Tony: Well, it’s all the embodiment and expression of those deep spiritual qualities, isn’t it?

Rosalie: Yes.

Tony: And I think anything that brings those spiritual qualities into the human experience, it’s like putting money in a bank. We’re increasing the funds of spiritual good, or the resources of spiritual good, made apparent. The true idea, the original idea is Spirit, God, and the spiritual universe, which is just absolutely full of these spiritual qualities. That’s what makes up the reality. And then in our day-to-day lives we’re accessing these qualities through expressing them, and they are healing qualities. They’re uplifting thought, they’re uplifting the world, definitely.

I did receive—I put a little note out on Facebook to see if friends wanted to share about experiences where they had cared for someone in a condition of disability, and I got some lovely responses back. One particular one was a woman who actually was very, very new to Christian Science at the time. She was just exploring it for the first time, and had her own healing through actually talking to a Christian Science practitioner, and reading the Bible and Science and Health. But at the same time, roughly, her mother was in a very bad car accident, broke her neck, and was really a quadriplegic from then onwards. And this became a situation where this young woman had to care for her mother. Without going into too many of the details, the husband cared for the mother too. This was not an easy situation for anyone. The medical verdict was that the mother would live, probably for about seven years, and in fact she lived for fifteen years. It’s a lovely detailed expression that this person shared with me—I can’t share it all—but there are a couple of wonderful points in it. This injury was seen as so severe, that this individual says that praying for healing appeared futile, at least to human understanding at that point. But she thought what she could at least do, is call a Christian Science practitioner to get support for herself, as she was having to deal with her loved relative, her mother. So the practitioner said she couldn’t pray for the mother, who hadn’t asked for that prayer, but she could pray in support of this individual.

Rosalie: And the idea would be to help her to keep her thought uplifted and that kind of thing?

Tony: Yeah, to help her be a better carer, really, not to be so impressed by the severity of the situation, but to bring a better thought and a better interaction to her mother. Anyway, she writes: “In addition to supporting me, and turning to God for guidance each step of the way, the practitioner shared an idea that would become the foundation of my prayers for the rest of her life, especially in those first few years. The practitioner said, ‘Regardless of whether your mother experienced freedom in her body, she could experience it in her soul,’ “ meaning that there was no power to stop her experiencing the spiritual consciousness, the spiritual sense, of who she is right where she was in that situation—which I think ties back to what we were just hearing about, wasn’t it? We must remember that the greater good is always the truth of who we are spiritually. And the greatest need, whatever condition we’re in, is to experience that, and feel that. And as we do, it’s like opening a plant that can blossom. But the thing itself, is knowing who we are as God’s loved children, and supporting each other in that conscious recognition. So I thought that was a lovely idea, that she could experience it in her soul. That’s soul with a small s, and in Christian Science Soul with a big S is God. And I think the practitioner was just meaning in the spiritual sense of this individual, she could have the thoughts, the inspiration from God, that enabled her to glimpse who she was, and feel that freedom.

Rosalie: Well, I think that’s very helpful. Did she say that the mother did feel that?

Tony: Well, I’m not sure how much communication there could be between them. But it certainly helped this individual care for the mother a lot better. She shares some of what she experienced as a carer in that situation. And in fact, I think one other thing that might be helpful for me to share from this, goes back to a comment you made earlier, Rosalie, about the carer’s feeling that sense of responsibility. And this individual wrote, “There is one other important lesson I learned as a caregiver and that is to release a false sense of responsibility. At one point after almost seven years of working with my mom, I had to deal with a challenge myself [meaning, I think, a physical challenge, probably, but anyway, some challenge she needed healing on]. In working it out, one of the key things I learned was that I was experiencing a lot of stress because I thought and felt that it was my responsibility to make sure my mother was taken care of. And this belief and stress seemed to result in a major illness.” And she puts in brackets: “[which was later healed.] When the practitioner brought this to my attention, what I heard [and she says the practitioner denies saying this, but she heard it] was ‘You are one of many of God’s hands.’ “ And she said, “that idea shifted her thought, so then she could do the same amount of work, put in the same amount of effort, but the sense of stress was gone.” And so, that for her, was a major healing. And she said, “She wants to support all caregivers in knowing that—that they are one of many of God’s hands.” And I guess what she felt was a sense of comfort that God was supplying the care, and would continue to supply it, and she had her place in expressing that, but the whole responsibility wasn’t on her shoulders when she saw it spiritually in that way.

Rosalie: I think that’s a wonderful thing that you just read because—let me see if I can find it—I think this is it. This is from Judith in Reno, Nevada. She says: “As the parent of a son with a disability, one of my main concerns is what will happen to him when my husband and I are no longer around to help him. It does not seem likely at this point that he would be able to live independently. While he has made a lot of progress, and he does have two older brothers, fear about his future is something I often deal with. Any suggestions on handling this? Thank you for your comments so far—very insightful.”

Tony: Oh, that’s precious. Thank you for saying that. You know, I think I would write this phrase down and really think about it. It’s not from the Bible or from Science and Health, but I think it’s a real insight and inspiration. It doesn’t take away the role that is ours to play, and we can cherish and value our expression of Love in the situation, but it just brings this confidence that God has a continuity of good to give to every individual, according to their need. And, of course, when we look round the world, we see a multitude of needs that seem not to be being met. And that’s where our prayers are required, not only for particular individuals we love or know, or particular carers we love or know, but if you’re in that situation, or especially perhaps if you’re not, let’s lift our thoughts in prayer for all the carers in the world, and all the individuals who are challenged with disability that they can benefit from this sense of God’s infinite Love, always being ever present and always being there for them. And I’m sure that will help things like government policy change for the better if it needs to. It will help more non-profit organizations come forth with original ideas, like the one I described earlier that I was working on—I thought it was a great idea, not that I had it, that someone else had that I was allowed to work on. We can support an elevation of the experiences of people more generally. So I’ll just read that phrase once more:

“You are one of many of God’s hands.” Trust and pray that if the one of many that you are, eventually is not available and if the need is still there in the same way that it currently is, God has this other expression of His care and love that will become apparent.

Rosalie: And you know I was thinking of the Bible and the spiritual song, “His eye is on the sparrow.” And that God sees the sparrow and looks after it. He certainly takes care of each one of His children, don’t you think?

Tony: I think that really is true. Every time we catch view, catch sight of how much He cares for us individually, it’s not personal. I mean God does not care for a particular person. He cares for all His creation, all of us individually, so any glimmer we get of how loved we are by God, that’s how loved every individual is by God, and so we’re kind of opening up the window to kind of show that spiritual light of Love that really is beaming down on everyone, directly from God.

Rosalie: Now, this is from Joyce in San Diego, California. She says: “My son, in his mid-thirties, was diagnosed with borderline schizophrenia when he was 21. I’ve not been able to live with him or be alone with him because he might be hurtful. He has lived by himself for the past three years, but the neighbors say he needs help. He is moving into a home with three other fellows with similar mental disorders, and will have food and other necessities taken care of. He also drinks and smokes as a way of self-medicating, the doctors say. He prays and studies Science and Health and the Bible, as well as other spiritual writings. How do I pray and give Christian Science treatment for him, as well as the other young men? He is an adult, but I still feel I should pray for him and include him in my daily study and treatment.”

Tony: Well, actually going to that last bit, I think for listeners there is a difference between Christian Science treatment, and prayer in a more general sense. Where treatment, who’s being treated to have Christian Science treatment, which is a very focused approach to helping the individual through, as we were saying earlier, bringing to light things that might be there in consciousness that need to be seen and seen through, that are not really reflecting God. So, treatment, in terms of people broadly, is not what one normally does. But my understanding certainly with children is unless one’s own children has asked you not to pray for them in that way, it is part of being a parent to care in that way. That would be my understanding. And, again, treatment’s going to be your individual, being led by God, I think to what’s specific. But it does sound a tough situation to be separated in that way, and one’s heart goes out. One thing that was interesting to me in an account of a healing of blindness—someone was going blind and they were praying about it in Christian Science. They came up with this interesting recognition, really on their own behalf, but I think it applies to others when we’re praying for them, too. And it was this idea that we don’t pray to God, or call on God, as a repairman. The way he put it is, it’s not God’s purpose to wait until something of His creation breaks down, and then He’ll put you on His list for a repair visit. Because God doesn’t really conceive of creation as in any way flawed. Really, what we’re trying to do is bring our thought into alignment with God’s perception of His creation, so that we are really seeing the unflawed creation. We say the unflawed man, meaning all men, women, and children as they really are conceived spiritually by God, but I think sometimes when we’re praying, we can get that temptation, can’t we, that we’re trying to somehow get God to come along and fix up what’s broken and then move along to the next broken case, whether it’s or own or another’s or whatever. But that’s really something we can watch for in our thoughts and say, “My job here is to see that God doesn’t let things get broken in the first place. And to see it with such clarity that I’m supporting the recognition and proof of that thought for others as well.

Rosalie: Thanks, and you actually—your comments tie in with two questions we have on vision. And I’d like to just let our listeners know that we’re going to let this run a little longer, because we do have a number of questions that we—we may not get to all of them but we will certainly get to as many as we can here. Let me give you the two vision questions. The first one is from Ann in Vancouver, Canada. She says: “I worry about diminishing vision due to problems in the eye. Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health says: ‘Sight, hearing, all the spiritual senses of man, are eternal. They cannot be lost.’ (And that’s on page 486 .) Can you give me further support, insight, understanding, prayers so that my vision may be fully restored?” And then we have another case further down, where an individual has been told that his eyesight will be lost completely. This is from Pearl in Oregon: “I have a relative who has just been told that his vision is gone and will not return. How do I help him deal with the disability and at the same time affirm that there are no disabilities in the kingdom of God?” So you’ve got one where the vision is gone, and then the other where the individual’s afraid about diminishing vision.

Tony: In terms of the latter, the diminishing vision, I think sometimes, Rosalie, you announce that people can look for healing testimonies on spirituality.com itself. And there is a testimony called, “A spiritual view restored my eyesight.” And it is about someone who’s obviously in his more senior years, getting a couple of conditions that he was told would need operating, but that might not be successful, for a cataract and a drooping eyelid. And he was told that he was losing his sight. In his case, he had relatives who did want him to go the medical route, and after he got the diagnosis, he decided not to. He decided to stick with Christian Science, and had his healing. The Bible verse that’s included here is, “Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength” (Isa. 26:4 ). And I love this verse because it says, “whose mind is stayed on thee.” And, again, it goes back to real focus and real vision starts as that mental capacity to really zero in on the nature of God, and the nature of God’s creation. We can start with cherishing that eternal vision, that spiritual capacity to “stay our minds,” which I think means keep our minds on God, on what’s true, what’s real. And then as we do that, of course, I think fear in that kind of situation is clearly something that we have a right to identify and bring our prayer to bear on, so that we feel an increasing freedom from a fear about what might happen. Very often lifting the fear is the most fundamental need when we’re given a diagnosis—whether it’s a medical diagnosis or whether it’s just our bodily experience that seems to be giving us a diagnosis and, in a sense, a prognosis. We do want to know that we have the right to recognize and rebuke and get beyond the fear, which is very basic in healing.

And the first case—well, it was the second case, but you referred to it just before this latter one—one thing I find encouraging is the recognition that whether we’re seeing a healing or not, we have the Bible, we have the healings Jesus showed us of blindness. We do have healings in the periodicals. Mrs. Eddy refers to that as well in Science and Health—she gives an example. That’s a starting point for our prayers. The gratitude, the recognition, that what seems to be a permanent condition—as if you’ve gone through a door and there’s no way back, it has been proved not necessarily to be the case. Some individuals have found the way back. And that, to me, is a starting point for prayer—that it has been known, and we can be grateful for that, and then open our thoughts to where God wants to lead us in our study and in our prayer, and again in that all-important compassionate responsiveness to the individual in need. And to recognize that individual’s unimpaired ability to be the child of God, and to express his or her goodness and qualities. Can I take just a moment to touch on that latter point, actually, Rosalie?

Rosalie: Of course.

Tony: Because one individual sent me a very, very precious video on YouTube when I put out my feelers on Facebook. Well, actually, I can’t remember if it was through Facebook, this particular individual, but in response to this chat they sent this recommendation of a video. It’s a lady who has definitely not had a healing of blindness—quite the opposite. She went blind at a young age, and this is nothing to do again, with particularly the people who are Christian Scientists or practicing Christian Science, but this individual is definitely a Christian. She makes that very clear. And she was dealt, what seemed to be, this major blow. It’s about a six-minute video, and I think if you put “Diane Rose” and “quilting by hand,” into YouTube you should probably find it. But she’s a wonderful, inspiring individual, very moving. She had this frustration of the lights went out, in effect. She was challenged by that. The way she prayed was, “You know, God, what’s the deal here? I don’t get it. Where are my talents? Show me where my talents are.” And that prayer—and sometimes it’s not bad to get a bit riled with God, and put up your prayer in that kind of language, you know, “What’s going on here?” But the day after that prayer, she happened to be visiting a friend, and the friend asked her, “Do you know how to quilt?” She didn’t, and the friend said, “Would you like to?” And most of us might not even have the insight of suggesting to a blind person that they might want to do quilts. This individual did, and Diane Rose said, “I would love to learn how to quilt.” And she obviously felt it was an answer to her prayer. And anyway, she’s gone on to be a master quilter. She’s done, I think, six hundred quilts now. They show them on the television video. They’re absolutely beautiful. She also travels, she cooks, she’s put a cookbook together. She does ceramics. She’s worked in a country-music station, met loads of country music singers. Her life has not been limited. In fact, if you think about ability and disability, I think a lot of us would look at her life, and say, “Hold on. She’s got a lot more ability than I have. And she’s putting it into practice.” She was asked at the end of this interview: “Do you think you’re a role model for people?” And her answer was beautiful, I think. She said, “I hope so. I want to be an encourager, to encourage people to do something with their lives, rather than doing nothing. Because so many people in the world, in this day and time, have no gumption, have no purpose, and they don’t want to get off the couch. They want to sit there and wallow in themselves, when really they can get out. The more you do for someone else, the more God’s going to bless you, even if it means just giving somebody a cup of coffee, or a hug, or something like that. And that’s what it’s all about.” And I do think that’s encouraging, because it’s tough enough for some of us who aren’t challenged by a disability to get off that couch sometimes—sometimes for days on end. But we need to recognize, and I think Diane Rose has recognized that when that voice comes to us telling us to stay on the couch—if that’s what it’s telling us to do—that’s not the voice of God. God is saying: We do have inherent abilities. And if we’re in a situation where we haven’t had a healing of a disability at a particular point, we can still claim our right to know our abilities, use them, and express them. I think most of us find that when we do that, they multiply, and we find new ways of expressing the good that is ours to express. I think, again, most of us would say when we’re expressing good, we’re experiencing good. And I find that dear woman an inspiration.

Rosalie: Thanks. This is from Bill in Orange, California. He writes: We were told that our son was autistic. The school said his brain did not work right to learn how to read. We told him that God is Mind and that he could express that divine intelligence. Sometime later the school said that all he wanted to do was read.” Then Bill goes on to say, “There’s also God’s phone number: Isaiah 65:24” and it’s a quote: “. . . it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Then in Exodus 31:1-5: God [downloaded] all the knowing of workmanship of gold, silver, and brass, to Bezaleel. Also “the cutting of stones” and “carving of timber.” And he adds, “By the way [and I believe he’s replying about his son], he can also read in Spanish.” So their son has made a nice progress there.

And Frank from Boston says: “Tony is exactly right about stammering. and its mental causes. I know. I’ve been healed of it.” So those are a couple of examples that people have sent in.

Tony: Well, it is interesting with the stammering. Actually, Frank, I do know who you are, and I actually have your testimony, scotch-taped on my wall. Because I put all eight of these testimonies—well, nine, including the one from the London Evening Standard—all of them on the wall here and I’m looking at them. And Frank’s is a beautiful testimony and actually, right in the middle of Frank’s testimony. he mentions this quote from the Bible, which I think is key to what we were talking about earlier about handling this idea of needing to fear. It is also from Isaiah: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (41:10 ). Frank describes that as “a beautiful assurance to me that if I could get rid of the fear, the stammering could not remain.” And then he goes on to talk about how he, soon after that, he became a Reader in a church for several years. And then he was actually—the testimony was from a radio program, and he was saying who would have believed I would have actually been on a radio. These things, looking back with hindsight, are wonderful to know where healing has happened with that clarity. So, thank you. And, actually, can we stick on the stammering for one moment more?

Rosalie: Sure.

Tony: Because one of the other testimonies, which is actually brilliant, was a young lad who had a friend who stammered a lot. He was a Sunday School pupil in the Christian Science church, and he just paid no mind to this little guy stammering. He just treated him like all his other friends, and he was a great friend. But after awhile he noticed that the other kids were teasing and insulting and making fun of his friend, and so he got really concerned about it. He went to his mother to talk about it. And they talked about how they could pray about it. And, again, this wouldn’t be giving Christian Science treatment, but she was talking about how her son could hold this thought of his friend, and in fact, quoted that quote we had earlier about, “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals.” So, he was just trying to hold this very clear sense of his friend on this spiritual basis, as well as having the compassion we talked about earlier in how he was responding to his friend. Anyway, it’s beautiful, he didn’t even realize he was being compassionate. It’s just his nature to do that. But anyway, after just a few months the friend’s stuttering went completely—or stammering. Stuttering is the word they use here.

Rosalie: That’s OK.

Tony: The nice thing is it was confirmed, not just by him, but by the mother of the child who had nothing to do with Christian Science. She met the child’s mother and she said to the mother: “Matt doesn’t stutter anymore, and I know it has to do with his friendship with Paul.” Isn’t that wonderful?

Rosalie: Yes.

Tony: And I love that line in the Bible: “. . . a little child shall lead them” (Isa. 11:6 ), and I think this little child is leading all of us, in a way, for how we can just hold that true thought for our fellowman, and actually, trust that they’re holding it for us as well.

Rosalie: That’s right. Now Shawna in Corvallis, Oregon, is writing to say: “In caring for my fifteen-old special-needs daughter, I appreciate the refinement of character I have experienced. I received this thought in prayer: ‘In the eye of perfection, is perfection.’ I’ve watched this beautiful little girl, who cannot speak or move on her own, bring out the best in others. My daughter has a very special niche in inspiring others by her positive and uplifting nature.”

And then Stormy from Atlanta, Georgia says: “In my twenties I faced the prospect of never walking again. It was devastating. I was so discouraged and thought that God was throwing me aside. But I started reading the Bible and studying Science and Health, not just through intellectual eyes. Gradually, I was able to walk again. The healing was complete, and it was a few decades ago I think, and I continue to be grateful for the lessons I learned through this experience.” And any of you who have sent in healings to the chat, if you’d like to send them in for consideration for possible publication, please don’t hesitate to do so. We would love to work with you, in trying to help that to happen.

Ian, from Tacoma, Washington, says: “I think we need to be careful not to attach a timeframe to healing of disabilities. Things may seem to continue for awhile, but if we are identifying something as taking a long time, we may be inadvertently saying something is difficult to heal. Admitting this, even unconsciously, places limits on the omnipotence and immediacy of Truth.” He’s talking about capital T, Truth, or God. He says, “I have an experience of helping a child who was thought to have ‘Oppositional Defiance Disorder.’ I just worked on correcting my thought about this child, and actually all the children in my class. Very soon after this work, the child seemed like a new student. Many other staff members at the school also noticed the change in the student and wondered what I had done. God is effective and it doesn’t matter the amount of time it takes to correct inversions of God’s creation.”

Tony: Oh, isn’t that a very powerful thought, and I think a very important one. I’m glad that this individual brought that up to put that into this program. That’s really helpful. Yes, time is a tyrant. It’s in the “Glossary” of Science and Health—Mrs. Eddy defines various terms and their spiritual meaning. And time has a definition (see p. 595 ). It’s one of the few definitions in which everything is negative. It doesn’t have a positive sort of explanation or interpretation. And so, yes, noticing when time is trying to be a tyrant in our lives, and not going along with that, is very helpful in healing.

Rosalie: Because we’re running way over time, we’re just going to do three more, and for all of you who have sent in, I hope we’ve covered things that will be helpful to you. You’ve just been fabulous in responding to this chat, and we really appreciate it. This is from J. P. in Hawaii, who asks: “How can we deal with the one’s deep envy of watching peers moving ahead, while a disability caused setbacks over the years?”

Tony: Envy’s one of the thoughts that we understand, as we explore spirituality, is not part of what God’s putting into us as a tapestry of our thinking. I think, to me, part of being spiritually-minded is to take note of that tapestry of my thinking, and really identity those thoughts that don’t belong in the tapestry that God would be creating. So this individual has done that. He—I think it was—has identified that as a thought, and we need to start from that basis of “my thought”—meaning him—”my thought is God’s beautiful tapestry of all those wonderful, spiritual thoughts, and this isn’t one of those. Therefore, I can identify it as not being part of my thinking, and challenge it.” We’ve all had to struggle with that, with different thoughts that don’t belong. But we do find that we can get beyond accepting these unwelcome thoughts into our thinking that are not only not helping us in healing, but perhaps hindering our healing because, at the very least, they’re a terrible distraction. But they’re really not allowing us to see ourselves as God sees us in that beautiful tapestry that we are each created to be.

Rosalie: And this is from Barbie in Delaware: “Could you maybe comment about the sense of embarrassment that comes from having a seeming disability? Having expressed a normal sense of health for many years, now I feel very uncomfortable leaving my home or being with others because I feel very self-conscious of my physical condition.”

Tony: Well, I think, again like the last communication before—one’s heart goes out, because it’s totally understandable how these thoughts come, and that they seem very logical, very reasonable, given our situation and circumstances. But I think, again, we have to start the cherishing of ourselves with this understanding of what the true makeup, the true mental makeup, of each of us is as God expresses Himself in us. We know that that thought, as well, isn’t part of that true, mental makeup. And so, when we talk about self-consciousness—which, as I said, does seem logical in a lot of cases, it’s really a consciousness of the self that God hasn’t given us. And whether that’s a self that we think is perfect material selfhood, or flawed material selfhood, it’s not the selfhood that God has given us. And so, our need is to turn from that sense of our self, to the real self that is emanating forth from God as spiritual individuality, and spiritual identity, or man in God’s image and likeness, as the Bible would have us understand it. So, I understand the challenge, and all strength to you as you go forward to rebuke that sense of a self apart from God that’s claiming to be self-conscious.

Rosalie: Before we get to our last comment, I’d just like to—for those of you who have children or others with developmental disabilities, I’d just like to remind you of a chat that we did, called: “Looking for inspired answers to developmental disabilities like ADHD?”—that was with Sarah Hyatt, and the date of that chat was August 17, 2010. And that’s one that would be quite helpful for any of you who are dealing with that particular subject. And then Margaret wrote into us from Colorado, saying that Mark Swinney’s recent chat on “Inspired parenting,” discusses a sense of hereditary disability and a parent’s sense of fault and overcoming that. She goes on to say, “I bet your whole family’s benefited enormously, learning an enlarged sense of patience and compassion for others.” That was directed at James in St. Louis. But the “Inspired parenting” chat was on January 18 of this year, and that was with Mark Swinney—so just wanted to bring those two to your attention as other resources.

And now the last comment is from Archer City, Texas, and Sue is the sender. She says: “I substitute teach and soon will be certified as a special education teacher. Prayerful preparation before going into a class to substitute has brought several demonstrations of God’s presence and power over some aspect of a disability. One very active child put his continual annoying hum in his locker until school was out. One autistic, mute child learned to go up and down and crossways gym bleachers with no assistance. One three-year-old’s teacher and aide couldn’t understand his words. I could, and his mother could. Quickly the speech problem became clear and the teacher has been able to help that student to more consistently speak clearly.” So these are some ways that just thinking spiritually about these individuals has been a benefit. Tony, do you have some final comments before we close?

Tony: Yeah, do you mind, actually, just going back to that last experience you shared? I think I’d like to mention somebody shared with me something about the way they pray, as a Christian Scientist, who works in a charity for people suffering from a disability which is both fluctuating and progressive. I think that goes back to the special education teacher. We can bring Christian Science right to where the need is, and this individual clearly does. She says prayer is a huge part of her life, including in her work. I can’t read too much of it because of the time element, but I love this phrase she’s got in it. I do think it’s actually wonderful. She says: “Christian Science is my anchor in other people’s storms.” Isn’t that great?

Rosalie: Yes.

Tony: And she says, “Christian Science is my anchor in other people’s storms, and often as I sit quietly listening to the client and acknowledging God, the storm of tears, discouragement, and even physical pain, begins to abate. The client, or family member will often report feeling uplifted and/or in less pain.” And so, wherever we are in the spectrum of human activity, these ideas can help our fellow man and woman and child—just help uplift lives where sometimes the diagnosis has been “there’s no cure, there’s no way out of this.” But the Christ is showing us all a way out, and we’re working to become more receptive to it. When I say, “the Christ,” I’m talking about the way God expresses Himself in our experience—the way we feel and experience God’s love and God’s uplifting power. That’s the Christ. The way I look at it as a practitioner and as an individual when I need help myself, is it is the Christ that heals. This isn’t a bunch of people trying to help other people. We’re becoming receptive to this healing Christ. And the Christ is always responding with the needed idea to everyone at every moment. That’s what the Christ does. As practitioners, or carers, or family members, what we’re trying to do as we pray, is we’re putting ourselves into the position of becoming a better transparency onto what the Christ is already doing, so that the one in need can feel the love of God, or hear the truth that they need to hear, or grasp the order of divine Principle through our bearing witness to it. And those things will be felt in a very tangible way, and those things are those drops of rain we were talking about earlier. That we just need to know that every drop of rain is adding to the nourishment of the soil that brings about the conditions in which the blossoming, the blooming, can begin to take place.

Rosalie: Oh, that was so wonderful, and so beautiful. Thanks so much Tony.

Tony: Well, thank you and thanks for all those who contributed. It really is precious that we’re sharing with each other in this way. We need the encouragement and the inspiration, and I’ve taken away some good ideas myself for which I’m very grateful.

Rosalie: Thanks. Today’s topic was, “Prayer for people with disabilities,” and our guest was Tony Lobl, a Christian Science practitioner from London, England.