Some 25 years ago while I was serving in our community Christian Science Reading Room, a fellow church member was walking by and heard kitten cries from a densely leafed bush. I was unable to extricate the kitten, but soon my husband arrived and was able to get her out. It was clear the kitten had been abandoned, so we decided to keep her and named her Missy. Over the years Missy brought us much joy and happiness as well as opportunities to prove God’s presence and healing power. Missy taught us many helpful spiritual lessons such as patience, persistence, and absolute faith and trust in the allness of Spirit, God.

When Missy was about eight years old, I came home from work one day and was informed by my husband that she had about a one-inch twig protruding from both sides of her jaw. After unsuccessfully trying to remove it, he had made Missy comfortable and started praying. I had been raised in Christian Science and had witnessed many healings through prayer for me, my four brothers and sisters, and parents—so I was confident that nothing was impossible to God. I knew that prayer as taught in Christian Science is effective.

I immediately joined my husband in silent prayer and acknowledged the ever-presence and omnipotence of God, good. I quietly affirmed the power and presence of divine Love. I knew that God filled all space and that all God’s ideas, including Missy, were always under God’s protection and loving care. A partial statement from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy came to thought and brought me peace: “Accidents are unknown to God.” The entire statement reads, “Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony” (p. 424).

Several Bible verses came to mind as well, silencing the fear and comforting me. One verse in particular, Isaiah 41:10, reassured me that God was in control of the situation: “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.”

A Christian Science practitioner was called to support us in our prayer. She asked us to study and think about this statement in Science and Health: “A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive” (p. 463). I loved that statement. Although Missy would not let us touch her jaw, she was calm and didn’t seem to be in any pain.

The next day we continued to pray for Missy, and she remained calm and alert. However, she wasn’t eating or drinking—so it seemed right to call the 24-hour animal clinic near our house to have the twig surgically removed. My husband called that evening, and the veterinarian agreed to meet us there. My husband gently cradled Missy on his lap while I drove. During this experience Missy was very peaceful.

I continued to pray as I drove, knowing that nothing was impossible to God, Spirit, and that Missy was a spiritual idea reflecting love, goodness, strength, harmony, and so forth. At one point about a block from our destination, I became clearly aware of Missy as wholly spiritual. I looked over at my husband; he was praying, too. Then I looked at Missy and saw that there was no twig in her jaw.

I turned into the parking lot of the clinic and parked the car. As my husband got out with Missy, I spotted the unbroken twig on the floor mat and retrieved it. The veterinarian was amazed when we explained what had happened. After examining Missy and finding no hole, blood, or any injury to her jaw, he asked if he could keep her overnight for observation. We agreed.

Early the next morning my husband talked to the vet and explained that we were Christian Scientists. The vet understood that this healing had come about through prayer and gave Missy a clean bill of health. My husband left immediately to pick up our cat, and there was no period of recuperation and no other difficulties with Missy. She immediately started eating as if nothing had ever happened. And she lived a healthy life with us for more than 15 years following this healing.

Sharon Sinclair 
Monrovia, California, US