I am so grateful for the testimonies of healing that appear in every issue of the Christian Science periodicals. I always read them, and find them tremendously helpful in affirming that Christian Science does heal—even the most serious challenges—and in giving me the courage to meet challenges of my own. 

Here are a couple of examples from the past year. Several months ago, I had been heating something on the stove, when I absent-mindedly picked up the hot burner grate with my bare hand. I immediately dropped it, but I also knew that, since God is the only real cause, accidents have no power to cause injury. I was able to continue what I was doing with no pain or evidence of a burn. I had recently read a testimony of a similar incident in the Christian Science periodicals, and had marveled that the writer was able to address it so quickly and fearlessly. My experience showed that the same Truth is available to all—it only needs to be applied!

At another time I had been cleaning the ramp outside my poultry house, when I slipped and fell flat on my back, with impact on the back of my head and my lower back. I immediately declared out loud, “I am perfect. That never happened!” and then, “Harmony is the fact.” I knew that in God’s creation there could not be an accident, since everything is subject to God’s law of harmony. And I knew that since I’m created by God and  entirely spiritual, as each of us is, I actually reflect God’s government and remain intact. 

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, states in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, ‘I am hurt!’ Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real. 

“… Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine metaphysics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures declare Him to be” (p. 397). 

Declaring these spiritual truths, I quickly got up and continued my work for another half-hour or so. During this time, I was praying to reject the belief that there could be any effects from an accident that had never happened in divine reality. I specifically denied the belief of concussion, especially since there had recently been so much discussion of that in the news.

In my daily prayer for myself I often deny both the belief that I’m an aging mortal, and that the belief of age can limit me in any way. I know that, as an immortal, spiritual idea, “man in Science is neither young nor old,” as Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health (p. 244). So any thought that age could make me susceptible to injury or other ill effects was never able to get a foothold in my thinking. I’m grateful to say that I had no aftereffects other than some stiffness and soreness that vanished after several days.

I’m so grateful to have been raised in Christian Science, and for the privilege of having had class instruction from a teacher of Christian Science right after college. Though my progress in Christian Science seemed to be hampered by many temptations, distractions, and quirks of disposition, my early instruction and the example of dedicated Christian Scientists helped to counteract the many negative influences that I was exposed to as a young person. And I believe that the quiet prayers of my Christian Science teacher brought about much healing in my thought and character. I truly am a different person than I was in my college days, and I believe Christian Science has made all the difference. 

Jennifer Quinn 
Gate City, Virginia, US