Hip restored

Several years ago, I was thinking about the concept of restoration, looking up different meanings of the word restore and researching Mary Baker Eddy’s use of it in her writings. 

Here is an example from her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth. It changes the secretions, expels humors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores carious bones to soundness. The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind.” 

Further down the same page, she speaks of her experience in restoring health through prayer: “Secretions have been changed, the structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions” (p. 162). 

My prayer at that time was focused on resolving some longtime issues, but in the midst of my studies into what brings about restoration, a hip difficulty arose that caused severe mobility problems, and I feared that the condition would get worse. Instead of praying specifically about the problem, though, I simply hoped it would go away on its own. My attention was on other things, so I struggled along. 

I eventually realized that I had been taking in false suggestions that we are subject to aging, frailty, and deterioration. These suggestions came in the form of news stories focused on joint replacement surgery, and hip replacement in particular. But my prayer and study were stirring my thought, giving me a fresh awareness of the eternal harmony of God, divine Mind, and of each one of us as Mind’s expression. I felt the restorative power of this spiritual understanding, and one day I found that I’d had no trouble walking for several weeks, and I have continued to be free in the years since. 

I am deeply grateful for the Bible and Science and Health, and for the power of God’s Word to heal.

Gloria Goodale
Los Angeles, California, US