Rather than thinking of God as a big human being with outsized power, I have learned through the study of Christian Science to explore the immensity of God as divine Principle, Love, the totally good Father and Mother of all. This exploration has affected my life in many positive ways, including through physical healing.

I was blessed with two harmonious home births. My midwife was not a Christian Scientist, but she had been a midwife for many dozens of women who were Christian Scientists, and she had witnessed the healing power of this Science. She referred me to a hymn by Mary Alice Dayton that declares, “Love’s work and Love must fit” (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 51). This was a reminder that divine Love creates its offspring in its own image, so Love’s work must look like Love. Love would not create anything, any circumstance or experience, that could hurt its offspring—in this case, either mother or child, whom I came to see as Love’s offspring, not my own.

My midwife had seen this truth in action numerous times, so we both had confidence that harmony would prevail during the births. My Christian Science teacher was praying for me, and there was a Christian Science nurse at my side both times. Each birth was wrapped in this expectancy of good, and was harmonious. Details surrounding healings in the first birth were shared in the October 31, 1988, Sentinel.

Another experience that remains vivid is the healing of our youngest child of chicken pox when he was a year old. When our son began showing signs of the disease, my husband and I knew that God did not make him vulnerable to suffering. We laid him down to sleep and left the room in order to turn away from the physical picture and pray.

I prayed with the Lord’s Prayer and its spiritual interpretation given line by line on pages 16 and 17 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. The prayer begins, 

I knew from experience that I could depend on this Father-Mother, the source of all being, for harmony in my own life and the lives of my children.

As I focused on each line of the prayer, listening for fresh inspiration, I came to “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” and its spiritual sense, “Enable us to know,—as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme.” I had repeated these words many times that evening, but this time, emblazoned in my awareness was this truth: God enables. Not me. Just God. 

It was as though I had been running in front of a train, trying to pry apart the rails that appeared to the human eye to join together in the distance. Of course, we know the vanishing point is a trick of the human eye. The rails never do come together. Just so, from a human perspective I had been seeing sickness, but in heaven and on earth God governs, and He sustains well-being. God is 100 percent divine Love, 100 percent good. And good’s creation is only good. I didn’t need to scramble to try to add anything to the mix, mentally or physically. 

Science and Health says, “Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth.” In the next paragraph it adds, “This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light” (p. 505).

I felt this light. A huge burden was lifted! It was clearer to me than ever before that God is all good and that His creation, including my son, must be only good. I felt at peace, both knowing and feeling that all was well and in divine Love’s care. My husband had also found peace in his prayers. We went to bed confident that the healing had taken place. And the morning light confirmed that our little one was completely well. There were no longer any spots or other symptoms. 

I have used this lesson (and relearned it!) many times since. Divine intelligence does the work, unfolding the wisdom that lifts us to a spiritual view and transforms our thought—and that’s when healing comes. As we mentally release a limited, mortal sense of existence, we begin to see what divine Life is. We can live every day with more joy and harmony, glimpsing the truth that divine Life is living us, and how practical that truth is.

I’ve been especially grateful to be able to turn to Christian Science practitioners for prayerful metaphysical treatment when I needed support. One day last winter, I had been experiencing diarrhea all day and suddenly felt quite dizzy, near the edge of unconsciousness. I went to lie down and asked my husband to call a practitioner for help. The practitioner immediately texted back, “I love knowing what is true about you, always.” The moment my husband read this text to me, I felt restored. Immediately, the diarrhea stopped, and within a day I was expressing normal energy and well-being. 

What happened? As I reached out for help, my thought was listening for and receptive to God’s message. The practitioner was affirming the truth for all mankind and open to the specific inspiration that would meet a caller’s need. The result was the fulfillment of the promise in Isaiah that “before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (65:24). I immediately felt a clearer sense of my true identity as Spirit’s, God’s, expression, forever perfect and intact, and I was well.

I am grateful for the courage of Christian Science practitioners and teachers in standing firm in their practice of this Science. Despite the world’s pressure to accept a matter-based view of man and health, they are healing every day by instead looking deep into spiritual reality. 

Cheryl McCarter Hoffman
Lebanon, Maine, US