Wouldn’t it be nice if the healing we seek when turning to God in prayer was instantaneously realized every time we prayed?
In the Science of Mind, the potential to instantaneously realize the presence of a solution is always present. But in practical experience, it doesn’t always happen in the order the human mind would outline ahead of time.
For instance, when the tax collectors came to Peter to collect the temple tax, Peter went to Jesus for the money, but Jesus didn’t give him the money. Jesus gave him instructions on how to obtain the money. He said, “…go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us” (Matt. 17:27, NLT).
Jesus had the power to instantaneously produce the tax money on demand, but evidently Peter needed to learn some lessons on obedience and humility first to receive the tax money. Jesus told him what to do, and expected him to follow through. We assume Peter obeyed, the tax money was obtained, and the bill was paid.
Likewise, when we turn to God for healing, there may be preliminary lessons that need to be learned before full healing is realized. When we are humble, willing to listen, obey and follow the divine demand of the moment, we learn the lessons we need to learn that prepare us for the full realization of our prayer. And the answer we knew in Science was present all along, is fully experienced.
Be ready to embrace any lessons coming your way, and to reap their benefit. As you faithfully follow, God will get you to where you need to be.
“Step by step will those who trust Him find that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 444.
I love the picture…reminding us that as we “embrace the steps of progress”…we are embraced, supportd, guided, by the heavenly Father-Mother Love…”Love is reflected in love”.
Excellent message. Things I have been thinking about. You articulated these thoughts so well. Thank you, Evan.
Thanks Evan for the lovely picture and the equally lovely post.
How true it is that the THREE steps we need to embrace, towards progress in healing are HUMILITY, LISTENING AND OBEDIENCE. Very often it’s our disobedience, pride and lack of quiet listening to the messages from God, which delays our healing. We are so caught up in the chaos of our own thoughts and human picture of things, that obedience to God and listening to the Truths we learn, are far far away.
Naaman’s story in the Bible will draw home the lesson that it’s so important to LISTEN, BE HUMBLE and OBEDIENT.
Naaman was a mighty man in valour but a leper. When asked by ELISHA to go and wash in Jordan seven times to be clean of his leprosy, he refused to LISTEN and to be OBEDIENT. His pride stopped him from doing so. Why should he wash in Jordan when the waters of Abana and Pharpar rivers in Damascus were better than all the waters of Israel? He DISOBEYED, DIDN’T LISTEN WAS NOT HUMBLE. But when he showed the willingness to do as the man of God told him, and when he was HUMBLE AND OBEDIENT, went down in Jordan dipped himself seven times,HE WAS HEALED.
Let’s Listen to the angel messages from God, let’s be Humble and Obedient to the Truths we learn in Divine Science, and get a speedy demonstration of the power of God and be healed and whole.
For about a year I was troubled with an injury in my upper back. At one point it was so painfully debilitating that I called a practitioner for help when I was on a holiday week of horseback riding. My need was met and I could continue. However, in the ensuing months something did not feel quite right between my shoulders. This lingered for many months. I did cannot say that my metaphysical work was very specific, but I did continue with my usual lesson study.
One morning about a year later, while I was busy doing housework and feeling this misalignment, or something in my back, the notion to “go lie down on the deck (yes, outside)” came to me. Well, I was too busy and was on a roll and just couldn’t take the time to do so. Anyway, why would I do such a bizarre thing? We don’t have any patio furniture on the deck and I would have to lie down on the bare wood!?
I was bustling around with my work in the house and the idea came several more times. It was starting to sound like a voice in my head and it was starting to sound more insistent. I realized that I was arguing with this idea and resisting it. It came to me that this might be an important message, but it just didn’t make any sense to me. Finally, I thought, is somebody, God, trying to tell me something? Have I been arguing with God and trying to ignore The Message? Sheesh.
Picture this: I am home alone, except for my dog Sophia. It is a fresh end of summer morning. The vacuum cleaner is out, and I am dusting up a storm (so to speak) in cleaning the house. I drop everything, and go outside to the deck, over which spreads a maple tree, and yes, lie down on the bare wood.
It feels awkward and I am glad no one can see me. I look up, and beyond Sophia’s bemused look and gently wagging tail, I see the most amazingly beautiful leaf-scape ever. The leaves, greens on greens, overlapping, the intricacies of the branches, were so very beautiful. It was a canopy of extreme beauty and when considering the task of leaves vis-a-vis a tree, the site of patient, silent, important work. It was hard to stop what I had been doing. Humanly it made no sense. But listening to God and obeying is always a beautiful and needful activity.
The next thing I knew, something in my upper back moved, and that indistinct displacement of whatever, was gone. I have never felt any of that previous discomfort again. That was more than five years ago and I have had free movement in all my activities ever since.
This healing has been very puzzling to me for ages. I think Evan helped to explain it this morning. The process of learning to be obedient, to listen and act on divine guidance, and to not ever be to busy for God.
The look on Sophia’s face was priceless as was the “lying down” for God.
Thanks, Evan for helping me to see this healing in a new light.
A beautiful story Kathy. Thanks for sharing! I love how you stopped your perhaps frenzied routine, and put humbly listening to God first. And then healing happened. Very precious, and educational.
Thank you Katherine for also taking the time to write this experience down and share it with all of us. It goes to the point – listening, taking time to hear God, being obedient- and it is quite beautiful.
Thank you Kathy,
It was a very beautiful healing. Have a wonderful active day everyone.
Thank you Evan and all the commenters and Katherine’s testimony which illustrate so beautifully the need to listen and humbly follow God’s direction when seeking healing. I love this passage from the Bible , Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you”. God is always here , pouring out his blessings on us but mortal sense cannot see those blessings- spiritual sense is needed/ patience, meekness, love, obedience, humility., trust. To melt away the clouds and reveal the light!
Sometimes our progress happens in ways we never expect, and Evan, your statement, “Be ready to embrace any lessons coming your way, and to reap their benefit”, proved this. I recently “happened” to see a former customer and his wife who had done something very unfair to me years ago and I have not seen them since. The temptation to be upset with them at the time, was strong, but all these years I tried to forgive. The ‘timing’ of their being at the same place I was, where I got the chance to let them know I was not harboring any ill-will against them, by being friendly and cordial, gave me a sense of peaceful closure to what had happened. That was indeed, a step of progress that truly helped me “let it go” and I am grateful for that experience.
A beautiful way of expressing what many today are understanding from principles of physical science like the flow of electrical energy (Ohms Law – the law of resistance), Letting go and Letting Go[o]d, and the Art of Allowing! God is all in All and everything we need is right here ready for us – except us!
Thank you Katherine for your story. I guess the way to healing and understanding is on its own sense of time or timelessness. You can’t heal one thing without healing all in thought. As I began my study many years ago, I would notice from time to time something that was no longer a problem. There was a practitioner who said something to the effect that love is so complete it even provides a saucer for your cup. I came to understand from this statement that even the smallest thing can be adjusted and harmonized. And yes, we must go deeper; no choice about that. I feel with all my kvetching and doubt at times, Love is just going about tis business adjusting and harmonizing.
Lessons learned. Isn’t that what the whole human experience thing is about? Humbly, obediently, following God’s unerring direction all the way. Katherine, your testimony is beautiful. Please submit it to the Christian Science periodicals! I love the idea that Jesus could have produced the tax money on the spot but used this as a teaching moment for Peter (and for us too in reading that story). The precious picture of big feet and little feet reminded me of Mrs. Eddy’s prayer for the little children, which in part reads: Guide my little feet up to Thee! Amen! Many thanks, friends.
I’ve begun to realize that fear is the primary reason I am taking pills. It’s just like Mrs. Eddy said in Physiology and elsewhere–doctors have told me that if I don’t take this pill, I’ll have a stroke; if I don’t take that pill, I’ll get full-blown diabetes; if I don’t take this pill, I’ll have an anxiety attack, etc. I’m not taking the pills because there’s direct evidence that those things will for sure happen in the future if I don’t take the pills. All of those things could happen and none of those things could happen–I’m just living in fear!
I’m tired of living in fear. Whether I choose to take pills or not should be based on where the evidence leads, not on my fear. And I can use the evidence from materia medica, or I can work to develop a spiritual sense which will give me God’s evidence–the Truth.
I’m not going to stop taking pills today, but I am going to continue to pray to get rid of fear and replace it with Truth.
Good thinking Ashpenaz! As a reflection of God you always have the intelligence of Mind to guide you and you are always enfolded in God’s loving care. Just keep humbly listening and you will realize more and more that perfect harmony is already ever present.
This is just what I needed this morning. Much gratitude and thanks to all!
Great comments Evan & Katherine. As Lori said, this is just what I needed this morning.
Thank you Evan for this very clear message today. And thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments!
One day when reading a familiar passage from page 495 of Science & Health the following sentence stood out to me :
Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious — as Life eternally is — can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. (SH 495:16-20)
The phrase “the recognition of life harmonious” stood out to me to mean “Christian Science Prayerful Treatment” since recognizing that God, Love, could only create harmony and therefore any discord must be an illusion is the basis of prayer as taught in Christian Science. Ever since this stood out to me I’ve realized the importance of being clear in my own thought that Christian Science Prayerful Treatment DOES heal. Now if I detect a fear or doubt in my thinking that prayer can’t be trusted to heal some error, I do specific prayerful treatment to address that fear or doubt.
It seems these days that many people think either a) prayer isn’t effective or b) prayer is an okay thing to do but it MUST be combined with some human effort. For example, to deal with a knee injury some may think it’s necessary to combine prayer with physical therapy or an operation. Or to deal with an unhappy job situation some may think it’s okay to pray pray but that it is also required to take the human step of quitting the job in order to escape the unhappy situation. But I’ve learned that step 1 is to always pray and trust the effectiveness of that prayer to lead me to the realization of God and God’s idea. Sure, sometimes I’m led to take the right human footsteps as necessary. But I’ve had many many other instances where prayer alone resolved whatever situation I was praying about. Prayer is indeed effective in “destroy[ing] any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not.” But in order to benefit from our prayers we need to KNOW that prayer IS effective. We also need to silence any human will that would “outline” how we think some situation must be resolved, trusting that God is always guiding us and we can perceive that guidance.
Hi Brian please check me on this; the idea of using prayer to change physical conditions is a malpractice of Divine Science; because it is a belief in two powers. In fact, anything “can” work to remove a condition simply because, in Truth, it is not there. Prayer is the recognition of the presence of the Allness of this Spiritual Law; not a power to change anything. In the Spirit of Truth!
My understanding at the moment is that it’s like turning on a light to remove a shadow. The shadow doesn’t actually exist, but that’s what we see until we turn on the light. Turning on the light–prayer–doesn’t change anything, it reveals what’s already true.
Materia medica is like trying to use darkness to get rid of a shadow.
Or, another example which I find helpful: I can write 2 + 2 = 5. It “exists” in the ink and paper, but it doesn’t actually exist. Prayer is doing the sum in my mind and coming up with the right answer. Then, I can erase the wrong answer and put in the right one: 2 + 2 = 4. I haven’t changed reality in any way. I’ve simply revealed the Truth that was always present.
I think it’s better for me to say evil and disease have no substance. As false perceptions, though, they “exist.” Medicine reinforces the false perception even when it takes away the symptoms; prayer removes the false perception.
Hi Kenny, Yes, I agree we don’t use CS to change physical conditions. In the link below is a comment I posted previously about how I prayed to resolve issues my cat was having. Hopefully this comment, along with Ashpenaz comment, addresses your questions.
https://spiritview.net/praying-for-your-pets/
Dear Brian, Thank you so much for that link. I Read the whole thing and all the comments and printed it out. And there was a bonus! One of the comments also shared a link to a Sentinel Audio Chat “Caring for God’s Creatures” with Evan no less! It is lengthy but so worth every second. It was extremely helpful in praying about all creatures and myself as well. Thank you again for your comments and for sharing the link. And oodools of thanks to Evan for this blog and for the Chat mentioned above.
I’m happy you enjoyed it Rhonda. I echo your thanks to Evan and all who contribute to this blog.
Right on Kenny!
Thank you so much for these very helpful ideas and all the comments, which are so generously shared. It is wonderful to feel that we are all progressing in Science together and are able to help each other.
Thanks for all the comments. Katherine, your testimony especially was helpful and encouraging to me today. God, divine Mind, is governing all, and there is nothing beside Him that is present or has power. God is All.
Thank you Evan for the loving advice in your very first sentence. Doing it with joy and gratitude. What a wonderful and helpful SpiritView today. And how lively and great the comments are – thank you all for them! – with Love.:)
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Thank you for this wonderful thought I will keep it close in prayer.