Painful knee healed

In the winter of 2021–2022 my right knee began to hurt more and more with each passing day and became swollen, so that I could bend it only with a great deal of pain.

Feeling I was at the mercy of the situation, I decided to engage a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer. The first thing the practitioner told me was that we don’t bow down to a false god—a mental suggestion of discord—but rather to what God, divine Love, knows. With this encouragement, I clung to the fact that all feeling and movement emanate from God. It’s not that God moves my limbs or organs or keeps them operating, but that He governs all the functions that characterize me as His beloved spiritual idea. These functions represent qualities such as pliability, suppleness, and stability. I began to understand that pain has nothing to do with me. 

The less I focused on the sense, or suggestion, of a painful and swollen knee, and the more I expanded my view spiritually, the more clearly I recognized that the universe is not fragmented, consisting of either warring individuals or overtaxed and inflamed matter. Rather, it is a complete system of ideas that function in peaceful relation to each other, governed by harmony.

As I took this view, I found that I was calmer, and my interactions with other people became more peaceful—in my family, at work, and in church. While I was catching up on the news, anger and blame yielded to the understanding that when we “wrestle . . . against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12), we’re not actually battling other people, since all are in actuality children of God. We are only putting down false beliefs that evil could be at work anywhere or in anyone.

As stress and mental flare-ups abated, my knee returned to normal. Soon I could resume the activities I enjoy, such as extensive hiking and cycling, without any limitation. 

I’m very grateful for this healing, for the practitioner’s loving spiritual support, and especially for the increased ability I’ve gained to bow down only to God, not to people or circumstances. 

Hans Braun
Olten, Switzerland