Hearing restored

For the past few years, I have served as a volunteer in the Foster Grandparents program at a local elementary school. I greatly enjoy my role as one-on-one reading coach and art mentor. However, a couple of years ago, I noticed I was asking the children to speak louder because I often couldn’t hear them. Even though I’d done my own consistent prayer and worked with a Christian Science practitioner, a progressive hearing loss that I’d had for several years was becoming more disturbing. I found being in the same room with lots of noisy kids more and more frustrating, and I realized that if my hearing continued to grow worse, I wouldn’t be able to continue volunteering in either reading or art. This added to my feelings of fear and distress because I loved being with the children.

One day I called a practitioner for support, and we talked about Soul (which is another name for God) as the source of sight and hearing. She pointed out that in reality man’s senses are spiritual and untouched by age, time, or material processes. She suggested I study what Mary Baker Eddy says about the senses on pages 212 and 213 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. I did, and this gave me a clearer understanding that everything good, everything God created, is invulnerable and intact. I felt new energy from this fresh glimpse of reality.

During the next few days of Christian Science treatment, along with the prayerful study recommended by the practitioner, I found myself reading again an article by Edward C. Williams, “How shall we think of our body?” (The Christian Science Journal, April 1983). He writes: “Christian Science, revealing our identity in the likeness of God, begins gently to dispel fear and correct our sense of body at the point where we are.” He brought out that as belief gives way to spiritual understanding, this brings harmony to the human functions, reducing tension, restoring normalcy.

I loved this insight and prayed for more understanding of how it applied to me. Slowly I began to realize how often I worked hard at hearing, striving every day to understand what the children were saying to me. At the end of busy days at school, I often came home feeling stressed and exhausted. This human effort to hear wasn’t helping. It was time instead to ask for God’s direction.

As I continued to work with the practitioner, she encouraged me to prayerfully claim my eternal freedom and joy as Soul’s expression, and to literally sing, dance, and play. Loss of these qualities is one of the generally held beliefs about old age, and I had accepted this falsehood! I decided to have fun that afternoon and joyfully went on a long hike, singing along the trail. I spent time admiring and photographing the lovely desert plants along the trail, watching for birds, and really enjoying the peace and beauty all around me. I came home feeling refreshed mentally and uplifted spiritually. I felt the spiritual reassurance that Soul, not matter, is truly what I express, and is where I live, move, and have my being (see Acts 17:28).

The next morning was Sunday. When I opened the refrigerator to prepare breakfast, I immediately noticed I could smell what was inside it. Wow! I hadn’t been able to do that for years.

Our church service was enjoyable, and I could hear everything that was said. I decided to stop at a noisy restaurant for a quick lunch. Instead of feeling irritated by the noise from the kitchen and the commotion of the crowd, I noticed I was hearing a wider spectrum of sounds, from soft to loud, and felt completely comfortable. I knew I was healed. All feelings of discouragement were gone. I felt such gratitude that I sang hymns all the way home!

The next day I shared my experience with the practitioner, and she reaffirmed the important fact to me again—that God’s idea, man, is invulnerable and intact, and the understanding of such truths is what heals. Every day since, I hold this wonderful truth in thought and am learning to let go of human will, human striving and struggle, and rest in the understanding that Soul is All. When I enter the school where I serve, I remind myself that Soul is governing each child there and we are all in harmony with each other as ideas of Soul.

What a difference this healing has made in my life! Instead of feeling overwhelmed when I’m around noisy kids, I now feel relaxed. I am easily able to distinguish what a child is saying or reading to me despite the noise. When I drive around town, I love listening to the occasional rattles in my car as I go over bumpy roads—sounds I previously wasn’t able to hear. My sense of balance has improved dramatically too, and I am able to do difficult hikes on rough and steep terrain without any difficulty or fear of falling. 

Over most of my adult life, I have experienced many physical, emotional, and financial healings through prayer in Christian Science. I rely on it daily for healing. This healing continues to enlighten me on my path of demonstration that man is spiritual, not material. I am so very grateful to God for this gift of Christian Science.

Sheila Smith
St. George, Utah, US