Category: Healing

7/10/2014

How is your bedside manner?

It's more than just what you say, or even what you do with a patient. Bedside manner, the good and the bad of it, extends to what you think, how you think, and what you do when you are NOT at the patient’s side. Christian healer and teacher Mary Baker Eddy understood that the morality and the spirituality of the practitioner affect outcomes on their cases, regardless of their method of practice.

How did she know? Experience. Before the discovery of the scientific method of divine healing, which she would name Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy practiced – and later abandoned – homeopathy. A woman came into her homeopathic practice with a case of what was then called dropsy and today would likely be called edema due to congestive heart failure. The woman had been unsuccessfully treated by another homeopath, whose dosage of medicine caused an apparent bad reaction.

Mrs. Eddy took the case and treated according to her understanding of proper dosage, and the woman steadily improved. But Mrs. Eddy soon discovered that, in fact, her prescription was identical to that of the prior physician – the same type and dosage that under his care produced horrible side-effects and under her care resulted in improvement.

Why were the outcomes different? She later would explain in her textbook on Christian Science, “The doctor’s mind reaches that of his patient …His thoughts and his patient’s commingle, and the stronger thoughts rule the weaker. Hence the importance that doctors be Christian Scientists.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 197)

She also wrote, “The moral and spiritual facts of health, whispered into thought, produce very direct and marked effects on the body.” (ibid 370)

About that homeopathy case and other cases like it, Mrs. Eddy later noted that she was always praying to God to keep her from sin, and to guide her in her care for others. The Greek word for “sin” is Hamartia (Ham ar TEE ya) which can be translated ‘to miss the mark”. To be kept from sin includes to be kept from making mistakes and to hit the mark rightly in all things.

"The doctor’s mind reaches that of his patient… “ Mrs. Eddy encouraged healers of all methods, medical doctors included, to clean up their thoughts and life of anything that might affect their patients adversely. She wrote, " If hypocrisy, stolidity, inhumanity, or vice finds its way into the chambers of disease through the would-be healer, it would, if it were possible, convert into a den of thieves the temple of the Holy Ghost, — the patient’s spiritual power to resuscitate himself." (ibid 365)

I read that one day and thought, "Hypocrisy? Stolidity? Inhumanity? Vice? Who me?"

Then I remembered a case where I asked something of a patient – to consider a spiritual concept more deeply – that I had not and was not doing myself. His healing did not come. When I realized my error, - the hypocrisy even - of demanding something of someone else that I was not practicing myself, I got to work and did the assignment. Then the man was quickly healed.

What about stolidity? It's the state of being unmoved mentally, impassive, unemotional. Had I ever been stolid in my treatment work, perhaps going through the technical motions but stopping the prayer before I felt the mental movement of the Holy Ghost in my consciousness? Hmmm.

How about in my life? Had I ever passed by someone in need without praying? Or put on a hard face when confronted with poverty or crime in the street or on the news? I could see I could do better for my practice by eliminating all traces of stolidity from my life.

Inhumanity? Now here I was really sure I was innocent. But then I asked myself if I had ever delayed to pray for someone until I was finished working on something else. Had I ever put my personal needs before someone in pain or suffering from fear? I remember the time I forgot to treat a patient that I had agreed to pray for. I got busy with another commitment and hours passed before she got the help that she had requested and that I had agreed to give. That's neglectful. Putting selfish interest before the needs of others, too, is cruel. Neglectful, cruel and inhumane are synonymous.

What about vice? Well, we all know my Oreo cookie story. (Listen here if you don’t.)

Look. This post isn’t about true confessions. I am talking about cleaning up one’s bedside manner to be a better transparency for the healing Christ. We can all likely do better. I know I can. In fact, until we consistently heal instantaneously, we must DEFINITELY do better.

In Christian Science practice, the healer has to be sharp and aware. His treatment must witness to the Holy Ghost and its healing action on the patient. But if the healer is distracted or preoccupied by unhealed hypocrisy, stolidity, inhumanity, or vice, he may not be as sharp and as aware as he needs to be of what the Christ, through the Holy Ghost, is doing for the patient.

Here are two tips for improving your bedside manner.

Don’t miss praying the Daily Prayer for yourself each day. Really pray it. Ask yourself, How can I witness more to the good of divine Truth, Life and Love in my life? Am I willing to let God rule all sin out of me? If it is the so-called “little” sin that is preventing you from healing instantly, would you be willing to stay awake and alert, and let even the slightest error go?
Watch the big four – hypocrisy, stolidity, inhumanity and vice. Mary Baker Eddy didn’t pull them out of a hat. They are common pitfalls, sneaky and sometimes persistent errors, that would derail effective practice if we aren’t alert to the many deceptive forms they assume.

We want to be good, really GOOD at helping and healing, right? Good bedside manner involves more than a friendly face and a kind word. Regular prayer to be kept from sin and asking God or guidance on cases should unmask and destroy any lurking sin that would prevent one from being a genuine aide.

Don't let yourself be stuck in self-condemnation or guilt. Science and Health is quite clear on this point. Mrs. Eddy explained that they, along with a faltering or doubting trust in Truth, God, "are unsuitable conditions for healing the sick. Such mental states indicate weakness instead of strength… You must utilize the moral might of Mind in order to walk over the waves of error and support your claims by demonstration.” (Science and Health, 455)

Christ Jesus gave wise counsel to all healer’s: “First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5) And the Daily Prayer reminds us to "let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin." (Manual of The Mother Church, Article 8, Section)

Patients, too, have a role to play in healing. No free passes here! My next post will speak to this recently unpopular and sometimes touchy point.

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7/7/2014

Nothing can deter you from healing

It is natural to want to help others through your prayers. Practicing prayer for others needn’t and shouldn’t be scary. Healing prayer is very fulfilling. It is motivated by love for God and man. While not every practitioner decides to advertise as a healer, taking out a listing in The Christian Science Journal can be a next step as the commitment to practice Christian Science healing matures into full-time availability to help others. But whether one is Journal-listed or not, the conditions and standards of practice are the same. Each one needs to do what is necessary to give effective help.

To an early practitioner, Christian Science discoverer Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Every day treat yourself that no evil suggestion nor argument can swerve you or frighten you--or deter you from healing and doing just what is needed here . . . Three times each day treat yourself for this temptation then watch that your house be not broken open.” [MBE to Alfred E. Baker, 2/2/1899, F00147]

I remember a time when I felt totally blocked as a healer. Really stuck. I couldn’t see any progress in my cases and felt afraid. Maybe I shouldn’t be practicing, I thought. Then I confronted head-on that aggressive and false suggestion that I couldn’t heal. Three times a day I treated myself, my practice and my community to understand that God through Christ was the healer, and that as God’s reflection, I express His eternal, healing Christ.

Mrs. Eddy defined Christ as “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 583) She also spoke of this Christ as “voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness.” (ibid 332) She explained that this Christ is “the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death.” (ibid 332)

I affirmed regularly that this very Christ is always a present and effective healer; that where I am, the healing Christ is manifest. As I did, I began to feel the authority that Christ gives each one to heal through prayer. I began to think of myself less as a personal healer and more as a perpetual witness to and expression of this healing Christ through every treatment I gave. I stopped being afraid that I couldn't heal. And then things started moving, really moving fast.

Sometimes healing came so quickly that I asked myself if I had had the time to give the case a full Christian Science treatment. But my three-times-a-day prayer always showed me that its not a personal me doing something extraordinary in prayer. My role is to witness the Christ expressed in me and in the patient - to witness to the Christ-message of God’s perpetual care for His creation - the divine message of unending good that restores harmony where discord seems to be.

I am trying to keep up a regular practice of treating myself three times a day “that no evil suggestion nor argument can swerve [me] or frighten [me]--or deter [me] from healing and doing just what is needed here.” It isn't always easy and sometimes I have to set an alarm to remember to do it. But I am striving to be regular about it, because, bottom line: Good healers are needed. And those of us whose love for God and man move us to want to lift up our brothers and sisters in healing prayer, have every right to be effective in our holy work.

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say...
"You came near when I called you, and you said, 'Do not fear.' You, Lord, took up my case..."
LAMENTATIONS 3:41,57,58 NIV

9/23/2013

Bow down to disease or bow before good?

If you have ever found yourself caught in a battle against illness and have struggled to find peace and healing without making much headway, this audio blog post is for you.

Christ Jesus was a master at turning water to wine. The wine they drank was not like the intoxicating drink of today. It was mixed with water, to make bitter, undrinkable water sweet and pure. This redirection from bitter to sweet, unhealthy to healthy, was a theme in all of Jesus works.

Here you will find a 4-minute audio clip that discusses the healing of a woman whom Luke described as "bowed for 18 years." Listen to insights into how Christ - the spirit of Truth that Jesus expressed - transforms minds and bodies from a bitter battle with disease to the sweet worship and praise of the infinite and ever-present Good that heals.

Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years,
and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her,
“Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”
And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. (Luke 13:10-13)

"We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts of God like the pagan idolater.
Mortals are inclined to fear and to obey what they consider a material body
more than they do a spiritual God."
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, 214)

Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 150)

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6/25/2013

Dump the anger, heal the pain - Podcast sneak-peak of part of new lecture

Here is a 5 minute podcast that shows you a bit of what I am working on for the "Angry no more" lecture that will be coming soon. Hope you find it helpful!

Also, if you would like to see/hear short clips from my other two lectures- "Finding God, finding health" and "Unending life within your reach" - they are now available on my LECTURES page.

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5/26/2013

Who is Mary Baker Eddy?

I am a Christian Scientist and healing prayer is my area of practice. Christian Science is the explanation of the healing work of Bible prophets, apostles, and of Christ Jesus himself. To trace its modern day roots, we can look to the one who discovered the Science of Christ healing in 1866 – American religious reformer, Mary Baker Eddy.

Born in 1821, Mary Baker grew up during the time when religious, moral and scientific circles were wrestling with questions about life before birth, the human experience and the afterlife. Her father, a staunch Calvinist, believed that all mankind was predestined before birth to experience one of two possible life tracks - to live eternally in heaven or to forever burn in hell.

This all or nothing life and death belief met with resistance in the young Mary, who from an early age rejected some of her father’s strong religious views. She couldn’t reconcile a capricious human life with the God of Love that her own study of Scripture brought out. An independent thinker, a questioner of truth, Mary grew into a courageous and serious young woman. She dared to challenge the many theories and beliefs of human life and God that cropped up around her.

"At the age of twelve I was admitted to the Congregational (Trinitarian) Church, my parents having been members of that body for a half-century...Before this step was taken, the doctrine of unconditional election, or predestination, greatly troubled me...So perturbed was I by the thoughts aroused by this erroneous doctrine, that the family doctor was summoned, and pronounced me stricken with fever.

"My father's relentless theology emphasized belief in a final judgment-day, in the danger of endless punishment, and in a Jehovah merciless towards unbelievers; and of these things he now spoke, hoping to win me from dreaded heresy.

"My mother, as she bathed my burning temples, bade me lean on God's love, which would give me rest, if I went to Him in prayer, as I was wont to do, seeking His guidance. I prayed; and a soft glow of ineffable joy came over me. The fever was gone, and I rose and dressed myself, in a normal condition of health. Mother saw this, and was glad. The physician marvelled; and the "horrible decree" of predestination — as John Calvin rightly called his own tenet — forever lost its power over me." (Retrospection and Introspection, Mary Baker Eddy, p.13)

Despite the agitation that her father's theological opinions stirred, Mary's orthodox Christian parents gave her a strong foundation in Bible study and taught her to pray. Healing prayer was quietly encouraged by her mother, who had gentler views of God. Mary came to expect that her prayers should be able to help and heal. In fact, archival evidence points to remarkable healings produced even by her childhood prayers - healings of sick animals and injuries of the other children on the farm.

Mary’s spiritual journey continued into adulthood. Despite an extraordinary amount of personal loss, stress, and insecurity in young adulthood, she leaned on God continually and stayed close to her Bible. And occasionally people were healed by her prayers. There are reports of blindness and other illnesses cured through her prayers a full decade before she discovered the divine Principle of healing in Christian Science.

The desire for more consistent health for herself and others led Mary to explore allopathic medicine, hydropathy, homeopathy and a variety of popular mind cures – and when I say explore, I mean she took up serious study, often becoming a practitioner of some of these methods for a time. But one by one, disappointed in their results, she abandoned each system, trusting her Bible to continue to guide her to answers to her questions about life and health and healing.

Then came a pivotal experience following a bad fall. Unable to walk and in debilitating pain, she was cured through her own prayers of what her doctor later indicated was a possible spinal dislocation and concussion. She discovered that not only is God an aid to healing, but that God, who she understood to be the divine Mind or intelligence of all, is the only true healer on any case - that God is all and that matter has nothing to do with life, health or healing. A radical new premise, yes. But, having been healed by its revelation, she couldn’t argue with the results of her discovery.

Mary Baker Eddy, Mrs. Eddy as she would soon be known, described this great discovery in her autobiography, Retrospection and Introspection:

“The divine hand led me into a new world of light and Life, a fresh universe — old to God, but new to His "little one." It became evident that the divine Mind alone must answer, and be found as the Life, or Principle, of all being and that one must acquaint himself with God, if he would be at peace…

“I had learned that thought must be spiritualized, in order to apprehend Spirit. It must become honest, unselfish, and pure, in order to have the least understanding of God in divine Science… For Spirit to be supreme in demonstration, it must be supreme in our affections, and we must be clad with divine power...” (27)

Of her quick physical healing, she explained, “I had learned that Mind reconstructed the body, and that nothing else could. How it was done, the spiritual Science of Mind must reveal. It was a mystery to me then, but I have since understood it.” (ibid. 28)

As a child Mary Baker was a healer even before she could explain how to heal. As an adult, she was healed of the effects of the accident before she completely understood how such healing was done. But the divine Spirit that is God was always supreme in her affections. Honesty, unselfishness and purity were a natural part of her character. These elements that render one susceptible to divine healing were always hers, so healings naturally occurred even before the full explanation of how to do it was discovered. Consistency in good results, however, required an understanding of the Science of divine healing. And when that understanding developed following her discovery, Mary Baker Eddy became world renowned as a remarkable Christian healer, teacher and founder of a new religious movement, Christian Science.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the exposition – the full explanation of Christian Science. It is the seminal textbook of Christian healing, rooted in Scripture and developed over 44 years of Mrs. Eddy’s personal research and practice. Science and Health explains what life is about, who and what God is, and how one can heal like Christ Jesus.

2/22/2013

VIDEO: Healing through prayer of a broken toe

Here is my first attempt at video blogging. Please bear with me. There is clearly a learning curve. Shaky camera work, scary closeups, blurry bits and unsynchronized lips/words aside - it was fun. And hey, you can always listen with your eyes closed! Find a link to a print version of this experience as it appeared in the March 1999 Christian Science Journal.

"We cannot in reality suffer from breaking anything except a moral or spiritual law. . . . The harmony and immortality of man will never be reached without the understanding that Mind is not in matter. Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the rule of perpetual harmony,—God's law. It is man's moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never inflicted by divine authority." ( Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 381).

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2/18/2013

Reaching someone who seems beyond help

QUESTION: “How does one heal someone who has lost their sense of orientation, who is 80 percent deaf, who doesn’t know who he is, or with whom he is, anymore? I believe in spiritual healing. I want to see such healing for this man.” (Question originally asked in French.)

RESPONSE: Prayer is especially helpful in such cases because it bypasses broken down lines of human communication and lifts the case directly to God. Prayer involves engaging spiritual sense, which is the innate capacity we all have to discern spiritual reality. Through spiritual sense we can discern the true and present nature of God and man and prove that no one is out of reach of God’s care.

When the material senses break down, a case can seem unreachable. But this evidence of deterioration only points to a mortal belief about man as cut off from good. This is never the actual case. No one is without hope or help. Your prayers that seek out God’s perspective of His creation can lead you to the truth about the material senses – that they neither limit nor define a man’s capabilities. When we stop fretting over what seems to limit the person and discover real life to be limitless and free in God, the door opens wide to healing.

The identity and liberty of each one of God’s children are intact and safe. Never separated from the divine Life that is God, real life is completely free from limiting, material conditions. We don't have to wait for some hereafter moment to experience the freedom of spiritual being. This present state of existence is completely discoverable through prayer.

A marginal heading, “Identity not lost” appears twice in Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

“What is man? Brain, heart, blood, bones, etc., the material structure? If the real man is in the material body, you take away a portion of the man when you amputate a limb; the surgeon destroys manhood, and worms annihilate it. But the loss of a limb or injury to a tissue is sometimes the quickener of manliness; and the unfortunate cripple may present more nobility than the statuesque athlete, — teaching us by his very deprivations, that ‘a man’s a man, for a’ that.’” (172)

“The material body and mind are temporal, but the real man is spiritual and eternal. The identity of the real man is not lost, but found through this explanation; for the conscious infinitude of existence and of all identity is thereby discerned and remains unchanged. It is impossible that man should lose aught that is real, when God is all and eternally his. The notion that mind is in matter, and that the so-called pleasures and pains, the birth, sin, sickness, and death of matter, are real, is a mortal belief; and this belief is all that will ever be lost.” (302)

If you are worried that your prayers “here” may not reach one in need “there,” don’t be. It has been scientifically proven that the discernment of the true nature of man in one human consciousness can set others free from their false beliefs about themselves. Christ Jesus discerned the perfect man that divine Truth, God, creates and maintains. He did this in cases where, to material sense, the patient seemed completely out of reach. (See the healing of Jairus’ daughter, Gospel of Luke 8:41-56; and the raising of Lazarus from the dead, Gospel of John, chapter 11) Jesus proved that no one cut off from the Love that is God. He discerned the kingdom of God within us – the spiritual capacity to know and express the Life that is God.

Mary Baker Eddy explained, “When speaking of God’s children, not the children of men, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you;” that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God’s image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy. Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself spiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfect nor material.” (476)

Jesus didn’t illustrate an exception to the rule. He showed that the power to heal belongs to each of us and can be demonstrated when we understand who we are as children of God. The divine perspective that heals the sick and raises oneself and others out of the oblivion of material sense is available to everyone who is willing to seek it out.

Your prayers are important. Let your search for healing begin with deepening, expanding, your understanding of the true nature of God. The Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health are indispensable tools to aid you in your prayers. Let them open your eyes to what God is, and to what he is doing right now for His creation.

I frequently receive questions from readers of this blog concerning the practice of healing prayer. Many questions are personal in nature, but occasionally I receive a question generic enough to be addressed for a wider audience. If you have helpful thoughts to share with this questioner, please feel free to leave them in your comment below.

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3/30/2012

What a spiritual viewpoint can do - a guest post by Kay Olson, CSB

It had been a pretty busy time. We moved with our six children from the North to the South, and were living in a large apartment complex until the sale of our former house was completed. Try that with six children and a dog! Yup. It was busy. But it was also an adventure.

The apartment complex was new and attractive and living there was kind of like living in a college dorm. Even better, our patio doors overlooked the swimming pool and, now that we were in the South, we had a lot of opportunity to swim.

As busy as I was with moving and family, I was also beginning to take calls from people seeking help through prayer to solve their problems. Until I could find a downtown office, I put a desk in the corner of my bedroom for a quiet place to study and pray. The Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, were my textbooks for healing prayer.

2/22/2012

Faith: The winning evidence in health trials

I had a hot-wire moment yesterday, where Wire A met Wire B and then buzz... ZAP! I had inspiration-ignition. There is a certain Bible passage that has bugged me forever. The apostle Paul wrote, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

I mean… HUH?

Faith is a word that has often troubled me. Perhaps it is because I have had it tossed at me as a descriptor for what I do. As a Christian Science practitioner, I pray for people. What I do is the equivalent of walking into dark rooms and flipping on light switches. I don’t create light. The source is there. I just help people experience it.

2/17/2012

Back pain healed - A post by guest blogger Kay Olson, CSB

One time years ago I was laid up in bed with back pain. I was home alone and really needed to get up. With no one to help me, there was just one thing to do. I rolled out of bed and began to crawl across the bedroom floor. As I did, I thought, This is really dumb. If Jesus were here, he’d heal me. He would say "Get up and walk!" and I would be able to.

Sometime before, when I was first learning about spiritual healing, I read in an article, “There is no real healing without the Christ.” I thought, Wow. I need to look into this. So I talked to a friend - a Christian Scientist - about it, and he told me to always think of the Christ as God’s activity. That explanation led me to my next question: What is God’s activity?

2/15/2012

Cancer healed

On Wednesdays throughout the world, people gather in churches and in groups to share what they have seen and experienced of God's, Truth's, healing power. You hear some pretty amazing things at a Wednesday evening testimony meeting in a Christian Science church. It's not who is speaking or even how the story is told that makes this sharing so special. One feels the power and presence and love of God, through Christ, that heals. In the Church Manual, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "More than a mere rehearsal of blessings, it scales the pinnacle of praise and illustrates the demonstration of Christ, "who healeth all thy diseases" (Psalm 103:3)." Here is my testimony.

In 2001 I began exhibiting symptoms of breast cancer. My mother had a mastectomy a few years earlier. My aunt also had a mastectomy, but she passed away from the disease. I had a young daughter. I had no intention of going anywhere, nor did I wish to see her become a victim of this disease. So when I began developing symptoms, I felt I had no choice but to stop this epidemic of fear and disease in the family.

1/26/2012

No peeking while seeking healing

(The story in today's blog comes to me third-hand. It is the report of someone else who was told the story by someone directly involved, rather than from my own personal knowledge as a witness. But I have great confidence in the source.)

A mother asked for help through prayer for her baby who had been paralyzed from the waist down since birth. The mom prayed, too. But she became discouraged each day at bath time as her infant lay motionless in the tub.

Demoralized, she called the Christian Science practitioner and explained how she would pray all morning to see the perfection of God's creation expressed in this child. Then at bath time she would be so disappointed to see that nothing had changed.

1/24/2012

W.O.W. - A victory worth sharing

At the beginning of the month, I wrote a four-post series on W.O.W. (Walking on Water) for 2012. To me, walking on water means accepting the exceptional in my day-to-day experience and stepping out into the "Great Amazing" that is life.

The posts discussed the four steps I am taking each day to get up on the water:

1) To think bigger thoughts and to expand my understanding of God every day.
2) To let the Christ (God's message of good for me) mobilize me in new directions.
3) To express stability with each new step and conquer doubt and fear.
4) To celebrate each victory and recognize that a forward step for one blesses all.

Here is one recent victory.

1/16/2012

Marriage and fertility concerns

I was a mother by choice. I knew my husband had been diagnosed as infertile when I married him. And up until the wedding ring was placed on my finger, I had always been OK with not ever having children. But shortly after the wedding, the day came when I wasn't fine with it anymore.

Science and Health explains, "Marriage is the legal and moral provision for generation among humankind." (p. 56)

Now, I have never read the word generation in the narrow "production of babies" sense that would cast men and women in the role of personal creators. To me, as it is used in this quote, the spiritual sense of generation speaks to the production of good in individuals, in families and in society, when a moral and legal promise is made, and a commitment fulfilled, to be a lifelong witness to spiritual growth in another person.

12/11/2011

Presents, or presence?

Today I am reposting an early blog that has just been published in the December 19, 2011 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel magazine. It is posted with permission.

I was thinking of my daughter this morning, recalling a healing she experienced through prayer when she was about four years old. She had an earache, and although I tried to pray for healing, I wasn’t getting very far. So Betsy said, “Mommy, let’s call Mrs. K.” Mrs. K was a friend and Christian Science practitioner whom we sometimes called to help with problems.

Betsy took the phone and told her what was wrong and then listened to what Mrs. K had to say. Just a few moments after she got off the call, she was totally well. No pain, nothing. It was over, and off she went to play.

“Wait a minute!” I said to her. “What did Mrs. K say?” I had been praying, and it seemed as though nothing had changed as a result. I was really curious about how and why the healing had come about so easily.

12/8/2011 7 Comments

Follow the star out of darkness

Have you ever found yourself in such a dark place that you have wondered if there was truly a way out?

I have been thinking about the Bethlehem star. On the blackest night, a beam of light illuminated the place where the Christ child lay.

Was it Jesus’ star? I think I have always thought so. But it was the prophet-shepherds and wisemen who saw it and followed. I believe that star belonged to them and it belongs to each of us.

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11/26/2011

Thoughts Count - A guest post by Kay Olson, CSB

I didn’t think so much about that when I was growing up. In fact, I remember very clearly walking down the hall of my college dorm and saying to myself, “ It doesn’t matter what I think because no one knows my thoughts but me!" I was probably thinking something I wouldn’t have wanted written on my forehead for everyone to read.

Some years later, I found out how important inner thoughts are. It had to do with headaches. I had never experienced a headache, until one morning I felt intense head pain. My first thought was to try to find relief by getting into a tub of warm water – my usual comfort spot whenever I was troubled about anything. I sat there with tears running down my face because I found no relief.

10/31/2011

"If God is ever-present Love, why did he allow ___________ to happen?"

This post was published online by the Christian Sentinel and can now be read on the JSH online website.

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10/29/2011

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations

Retitled as "If the weight of the world seems overwhelming", this post appeared in the Christian Science Monitor on February 9, 2012. Here are the links from the original post

problems,
out of control.
little prayers

10/18/2011

A certain form of prayer

Me, back in my lecturing days.

Many years ago I developed symptoms of laryngitis during a weekend of constant speaking engagements. Saturday, I lectured six hours nonstop in a noisy environment. It seemed to put a strain on my vocal chords. I couldn't make a sound on Sunday morning and I had another important presentation to make at three in the afternoon. As I often do when confronted with crises - health problems included - I turned to the prayer system of Christian Science for help.

The Christian Science method of prayer involves spiritual reasoning that follows very closely the elements included in the Lord's Prayer that Christ Jesus gave to his followers. Each prayer is original, unfolded through inspiration, and starts with understanding God's true nature as Love, Life, Spirit - our true and only Father or Source. It hallows the Christ as the link, or divine message of good, that brings to humanity the capacity to heal and be healed. It takes a look at the true nature of God's creation, including man, as spiritual reflection, and of God's will of good for all on earth and in heaven...

10/12/2011

Helping others love themselves

When a first grader made a passing remark to his Sunday School class about suicide, his teacher couldn’t imagine that the remark had any real weight of conviction behind it. So, it passed by with only a brief response. The following week when the child brought up the subject again, it was once more dealt with lightly at first. But the teacher discerned that the boy was reaching out for help. Throughout the next week she prayed for guidance on how to meet the needs of everyone in the Sunday School class, including this boy.

The next Sunday it became apparent that this child, whose mother had recently passed on, was becoming more and more convinced that his own death would reconnect him with happiness. The depth of his yearning was surfacing. The teacher prayed to hear and respond to the Christ, the spiritual idea of God that heals. A great way of thinking of the Christ is, "..the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to man speaking to the human consciousness." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p.332) She wanted to give the child an answer that would go beyond temporary comfort over the loss of his mother so the teacher turned her attention to listening for the Christ - the divine message that would meet the need...

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