Healed of severe back and leg pain

A recent inspiration reminded me of the deeper significance of a healing that took place about 15 years ago.

At the time of this healing, I was doing a significant amount of long-distance bike riding. This was something I loved to do practically every day of the week. But at one point a sharp and persistent pain in my lower back made it nearly impossible to ride. I also had considerable difficulty walking or finding a comfortable position for sleep.

At first I thought this would just go away on its own. After a couple of weeks,  however, it was clear that the situation needed to be addressed. This became even more evident when I happened to peruse an article in a biking magazine that included a detailed and somewhat alarming description of a condition with the very symptoms I was experiencing.

I decided to call a Christian Science practitioner, someone who’s in the business of helping those who choose to rely on prayer for healing—specifically, prayer inspired by the teachings and healings of Christ Jesus as well as the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and a devoted follower of Christ Jesus. 

The practitioner shared a number of wonderful ideas. One that really stood out to me was a passage from Mrs. Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, where she writes, “The divine Science of man is woven into one web of consistency without seam or rent” (p. 242). 

The magazine article I had read indicated that the condition I was facing might involve tears in my spinal column. So the idea that man—meaning not just me, but everyone—was actually always entirely whole and well, “without seam or rent,” was a real wake-up call.

I understood from my study of Christian Science that Mrs. Eddy wasn’t referring to physical tears but rather to the belief that we can become separated or be somehow torn away from God—from divine Mind, divine Love—and, by association, from our fellow children of God.

I prayerfully and persistently affirmed the fact of my God-maintained wholeness. This also included acknowledging, for instance, that there is no inherent separation or division among God’s children. This applies to all people, regardless of gender, political affiliation, race, and so on. I also found it helpful to affirm that I myself am the complete and undamaged spiritual expression of God, divine Spirit.

This was the turning point for me. Within a very short time, all was well and I was again riding my bike on a regular basis.

Was this just a matter of my back healing itself, of me being lucky? I don’t think so. Immediately following the passage from Science and Health quoted earlier is this statement: “Mere speculation or superstition appropriates no part of the divine vesture, while inspiration restores every part of the Christly garment of righteousness” (p. 242). The way I see it, it was the change of thought inspired by spiritual truths that restored my conviction of my inseparability from God, which was then evidenced in a pain-free body. And this condition has never returned.

So what about the recent inspiration mentioned at the beginning of this testimony? It was simply this: That healing doesn’t begin with a problem, or even with the desire to fix a problem, but with God’s blessing.

In Genesis we read: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them” (1:26–28).

This divine blessing includes many things, not least of which is the ability to see ourselves and others as God sees us, even as “very good,” as we’re assured further on in Genesis 1 (verse 31). Healing, then, is all about this blessing being experienced in our day-to-day life.

As grateful as I am for the physical healing that took place so many years ago—and many other healings I’ve had before and since!—I’m even more grateful for the understanding that such healing can be achieved solely through prayer; that is, through a deeper appreciation of our present and eternal unity with God. 

Eric Nelson
Petaluma, California, US