I would like to express my gratitude for a physical healing I experienced of a drooping eyelid. At the time I was working as an engineer for a company that required quite a bit of computer work, so the lack of muscle strength in one eye was very troublesome and seemed to interfere with my daily workload. 

Several co-workers offered their opinions on what it might be and expressed the fear that it was a genetic condition that could not be overcome. This caused a good deal of fear in my own thought, but I knew I could turn to God for His all-loving embrace.

After praying on my own for a week or so with little to no progress, I called a Christian Science practitioner for support. I grew up in a family that practiced Christian Science, so calling a practitioner for healing was natural to me and was my preferred route of treatment. 

The practitioner reminded me that strength comes from God, Spirit; it’s not in or from matter. Since it’s a spiritual quality of God that I reflect, I can never be without it. This seemed especially important to understand, considering the condition I was facing and the fact that I had a lot of work and testing to do in order to complete my engineering training at this new company. 

Competition was fierce at work, and the strain of the workload, as well as the strain of work relationships, seemed to be daunting. But I was encouraged by the practitioner’s help, and she shared many spiritual ideas with me, including this statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “No more can we say in Science that muscles give strength, that nerves give pain or pleasure, or that matter governs, and then expect that the result will be harmony” (p. 219).

As I continued praying, I knew that I shouldn’t look at my eye to see if there was improvement, because in reality it isn’t matter that needs improvement, but thought, which is manifested in the body. What we always need in healing is to spiritualize our thinking in order to understand spiritual truth. I knew that an improved physical state would naturally result from a growing understanding of truth, which is what heals. 

I also read in Science and Health this definition of eyes: “Eyes. Spiritual discernment,—not material but mental” (p. 586). Each day I endeavored to discern more clearly that because my identity is spiritual—the reflection of the one true creator, God, who is perfect—it could not be marred. Since God is the one true creator, the divine Parent of all, I could not inherit anything but perfection. 

The healing took place over the course of three months, but after the three months my thought had been so uplifted I stopped noticing the eyelid and eye in the mirror. It took me a few days to call the practitioner to let her know I had been healed! Relationships at work were resolved, and all our projects came to a successful ending, just as smoothly as the physical healing. Mary Baker Eddy captures so clearly that all healing is mental in nature when she says, “To the Christian Science healer, sickness is a dream from which the patient needs to be awakened” (Science and Health, p. 417). I had truly been awakened to know my true spiritual origin and perfection. 

I am very grateful for Christian Science and how it lifts us up and out of the belief that we can be the victims of fluctuating material conditions. This healing, which has been permanent, has made me realize how grateful I am to Christian Science, and for Mary Baker Eddy’s teachings, which heal.

Kindahl Jackson
Lubbock, Texas, US