"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
One evening just as we were ready to go to sleep, my elder teenage daughter began to experience severe pain in her abdomen and lower back. She was vomiting, her breathing was laboured, and she was unable to walk. I had been treating her for a urinary infection for two days which had seemed to be yielding. However, as a recently declared ‘atheist’ she asked me to call the night doctor, which I did.
The very next thing I did was to call a Christian Science practitioner to help me, as the symptoms were very alarming. The practitioner assured me of the efficacy of Christian Science to maintain normal bodily functions and that God was supporting us. I made my daughter comfortable on the bathroom floor where she was still in great distress and really prayed deeply, reaching out to understand more of God and of his reflection. I remember praying the Lord’s Prayer and the First Commandment, and refusing to be impressed by appearances. I had learned a lot about the importance of the First commandment in class instruction and subsequently when studying more of M.B.Eddy’s writings. In a letter to Judge Hanna in 1883 she wrote, “There is an axe to be laid at the root (of fear). This is the first Hebrew commandment as explained in my works”.
I reassured my daughter that she was safe, and it came to me to encourage her to concentrate on a good thought and away from the pain. Suddenly she seemed to lose consciousness or to have fallen asleep. Her breathing was instantly quiet, so much so that I put my head near to her to make sure she was actually breathing properly. I continued quietly and strongly to affirm the ever- present power of divine Love. The Bible verse that helped me was “The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow...”.(Heb 4:12).
After just a few minutes the night doctor arrived. My daughter was however already more comfortable. I was immediately grateful for his calm and reassuring demeanour. After a brief examination he called an ambulance because he wanted her taken to the emergency dept at the hospital to “exclude the possibility of appendicitis and infection”. By the time the ambulance arrived my daughter was very much recovered and I knew it wasn’t necessary, but it seemed that we needed to collaborate at this point. I was able to fully assure my younger daughter, who was fearful and upset, that the healing was already complete, and to encourage her to go to bed so she wouldn’t miss school the next day.
At the hospital we spent about 3 hours waiting for her to be examined. I used the time to pray for her and for all the people in the emergency waiting room. My daughter slept for much of this time and the pain did not return. The doctor who did the eco-graph scan found no evidence of appendicitis or kidney complaint, but asked for a urine sample and ordered a pain-killing injection although she was no longer in pain. The sample didn’t look completely normal and alerted me to continue affirming the unreality of infection and the reality of God and his idea. By this time the emergency ward was almost deserted and no-one came to do the analysis. My daughter finally asked me to take her home, and we left. The next day she was virtually free of all the symptoms and had made a full recovery by the following morning.
I am so grateful for the immediate healing action of the work done by the practitioner and myself. It was a very clear demonstration to my doubting daughter of the efficacy of Christian Science treatment. Two other benefits following that wakeful night were that my younger daughter got up and went to school on the bus by herself without making a fuss, and that I was able to get to work by mid-morning and had a very joyful day. This was commented on by my boss who is also a declared atheist and who will in due time discover that I am a student of Christian Science! Both my colleagues were impressed by the quick recovery of my daughter and the fact that there was no need for any further follow-up treatment or courses of pills.