Encircled by Love

If there is any possibility of a testimony being perfect, it seems to me that Kristen Hills' one beginning page 103 of our December book Christian Science: Continuing Evidence of Christ-Healing could claim that accolade.

 

Her son Sam was a teenager studying at Principia College. (This is presumption from his testimony which is added to his mother's which gives his address as Elsah, Illinois.)  

 

Sam was on a rock-climbing expedition hours away from the camp when he was bitten by a rattle-snake.  His companions were a group of 13 to 15 year-olds, and there were counsellors in the party.

 

I love this: "He told me that the campers and counsellors present at the time of the incident had circled around him, and everyone was calm.  He had felt their confident prayers."

 

Kristen had early on been encouraged by a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal (#53):

Everlasting arms of Love

Are beneath, around, above;

God it is who bears us on,

His the arm we lean upon.

 

Kristen adds, "I was struck by the fact that, as my son mentions below, the poison never seemed to circulate through his system.  It was as though that encircling of God's protection and loving care acted as a tourniquet."

 

I hope readers of this blog can get to read this outstanding testimony for themselves.  All the testimonies are outstanding really.

Joyce Voysey

Testimony from Australia

 As I progress through our lovely book "Christian Science: continuing evidence of Christ-healing", I've noticed testimonies from all over the world, so I wondered if I would find any from Australia.

I did! See pages 109 - 112.

In his account, immediately following a fall from a collapsed ladder, the testifier prayed with a sentence from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 476): 

    Man in God's image is unfallen and eternal. 

Later, from his hospital bed, he continued to pray. 

He also had daily contact with a Christian Science practitioner. Within six days of good progress he was "discharged to a rehabilitation centre" from where he was released much earlier than predicted. Later, a brace that had been fitted was removed when "the surgeon showed photographic evidence that the spine had healed properly".

I love this testimony and I loved reading and pondering the passages from Scripture, the Christian Science hymnal, and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy that John Bruce prayed with.

Love is universal. God is right here, right now, no matter where we are.

How comforting and thrilling it is to know this.

Thank you to the testifiers for taking the time to share these accounts.

Julie Swannell

Gifts aglow

The wise men brought treasure  - gold, frankincense and myrrh - to the child Jesus in Bethlehem's manger. 

Christian Science: continuing evidence of Christ-healing, from the Christian Science Publishing Society, is a treasure-trove of gifts - gratitude for healings. 

This evening, after finalising my Christmas gift-wrapping, I picked it up and opened at random to "Healed of alcoholism" (pp. 182-184).

This lovely healing - which resulted in the reunification of a fractured family - just sings with pure joy. It is especially touching to learn that, in response to the Christian Science practitioner's request that the writer make a list of things he was grateful for, he "thought of fifty things"! Some time afterward, there was "a terrific feeling of calm and peace... An indescribable feeling of being aglow...".

My favourite part is where the writer's wife says: "...I no longer love Judge the way I once had. But guess what? I fell in love with my husband all over again. Things changed for the better in our household, and we began to attend the local Christian Science church as a family."

A lovely article in the December 2004 issue of The Christian Science Journal ("Gifts from the wise men") shares some thoughts about the qualities expressed by the wise men, in particular: intelligence ("They knew how to figure out that the Messiah had come"); courage ("They had to travel a long distance to a strange country to find Jesus"; patience ("The wise men had patience and persistence to keep looking for Jesus"); and generosity ("They brought gifts to give Jesus and his parents"). We too can freely share these healing gifts.

Julie Swannell