Testimonials

A meaningful healing occurred for me last summer. One evening my wife and I were sharing a delicious meal when I suddenly bit down hard on the middle section of my tongue. The result was a deep laceration and much bleeding. I began praying immediately, first to still the pain, which quickly disappeared, and then to address the issues surrounding the wound.

I affirmed that divine Spirit, Mind—God—was governing my every action. I thought of a Bible passage that explains how all the members of the church have their distinct roles but work together in unity, and that the King James Version of the Scriptures also uses the term members to refer to parts of the body. The harmony of our evening couldn’t suddenly or randomly be interrupted by a clash of cross-purposes between members of the same body—in this case the tongue and the teeth—any more than the harmonious members of the body of Christ could do anything but engage in purposeful action and painless progress. I continued praying along these lines throughout the evening, expecting quick healing.

By bedtime, the bleeding had lessened but not ceased, and the wound also interfered with speaking. This triggered a memory from childhood of a neighborhood playmate who’d had a similar experience, which had led to a lasting disfigurement. I denounced this old mental image suggesting permanent damage and declared that it could have
no replication in or bearing on my experience. 

Before I retired for the night, a comforting statement from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy came to my thought: “Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to master the false evidences of the corporeal senses and to assert its claims over mortality and disease” (p. 395). From past healings I felt confident that the imposition of a sudden wound was no less a lie than was a disease, and that I could lean on Soul, which is another name for God, to master the false evidence of the physical senses. 

In the morning, as the bleeding had not ceased, I called a Christian Science practitioner for prayerful help in putting this lie to rest. Though she was three thousand miles away, I felt no sense of separation from the truths she voiced. They emanated from the authority of the Christ—God manifesting His love and healing power right where I was. 

The practitioner said she would begin Christian Science treatment immediately. After we said goodbye, I felt God’s hand—God’s control of the situation—at once and relaxed in divine Love’s grasp. The next five minutes I can only describe as a holy moment. I literally felt Soul at work and became aware of a gentle tingling in the tongue as the wound was closing. The bleeding ceased.

For the next few hours, I rejoiced in the warm awareness of divine Love’s presence. During the afternoon I realized that there was still more to do. The wound on the tongue was noticeable whenever I spoke, so I called the practitioner to let her know. She affirmed the rightness of complete healing and agreed to continue treatment. By early evening there was no evidence at all that there had ever been a gash, and within a couple of days there was no trace of any abnormal sensitivity.

This experience impressed upon me the need to be unimpressed with the evidence of the physical senses, which is always false, no matter how loud or flamboyant it may appear. At a time when I felt a bit stuck, this experience brought comfort and assurance that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. . . . The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalms 46:1, 6, 7).

I am so grateful for the growing awareness and confidence that God is the “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (II Corinthians 1:3, 4, New King James Version).

G. Christopher Cheney
Carmichael, California, US