Here’s a piece that explains how prayer took severe pain and suffering away when I connected with the shepherd-love described in the 91st Psalm.
Published in the Tri-City Herald, my local newspaper, “The Shepherd’s love became real when the pain went away” (June 21, 2024).
Thanks for the testimony. I’m grateful you were able to share the power found in the 23rd Psalm with your community.
can’t access article without subscribing to newspaper. Is there another way to read it?
I clicked on the link Evan provided here that starts with “The Shepherd’s love and I saw the entire article
That’s definitely not working for me!
Thank you for sharing your article that was printed in the newspaper for many to benefit from Evan!
Neither could I access the article without subscribing. Perhaps Evan could share it here on Spiritview. I would very much like to read it.
Here’s a copy of the article – I could access.
SPIRITUAL LIFE
Faith | The Shepherd’s love became real when the pain went away
BY EVAN MEHLENBACHER SPECIAL TO THE HERALD
JUNE 21, 2024 5:00 AM
Woman shopping in store buying health and beauty supplies BILL OXFORD Getty Images
When sick and in pain, I have found healing from turning to the ever-present love of God for comfort and help.
One evening, a couple of years ago, I became miserably ill in a short time. I am tossing and turning in bed, unable to sit still, and reeling from a splitting headache. I try to pray but find it impossible to think coherently.
I reach out to my wife for help and ask her to read me the 23rd Psalm, which is a song in the Bible that speaks of God’s dear love and care ready to meet any human need.
As my wife reads the first verse, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want,” the words, “I shall not want” arrest my attention. She continues reading, but the words, “I shall not want,” keep repeating in my mind.
These words made me think about how sheep in the time of the Psalmist depended entirely upon their shepherd for care. The shepherd was responsible for providing food, water, and protection from all enemies. The sheep never worried. The faithful shepherd took care of them and ensured that they never lacked—for anything.
I could have the same trust in my divine shepherd that these sheep had in their human shepherd, I began to see.
My divine shepherd is not a person standing guard with a staff. It is the power and presence of divine love at work on my behalf, as a child of God, one of God’s sheep, giving me the health, strength, and spiritual clarity I need to be free of pain and disease.
I suppose many people would reach for a drug to dull the pain when struggling as I was. But I was looking for more than a removal of pain. I was looking for spiritual insight that brought me closer to God and made me less susceptible to suffering in the future.
For over six decades, I have practiced Jesus Christ’s principles for prayer-based healing, as taught in the Bible, and during this time all my sicknesses have been healed through prayer alone, with no drugs. I was expecting the same again.
The words, “I shall not want,” kept rolling over in my mind. They reminded me that I have everything I needed to be healed. The same love that healed through Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, was in me now, able to remove fears, dissolve beliefs propping up the pain, and get my mind and body back into alignment with standards for good health.
My shepherd of divine love is with me, I am confident. I did not lack.
As I release all sense of want and accept that I have all I need to be well, a wave of peace sweeps through my thinking. It is the Christ, the love of God, I knew, doing what the heavenly shepherd does, taking care of me, bringing me comfort, and restoring health.
In moments, the intensity of the pain breaks. I am feeling better rapidly. The sickness is in fast retreat. I fall into a peaceful sleep and awake in the morning happy and well.
The love of my Shepherd took the sickness and pain away, and I was grateful.
Thank you for sharing this here today Evan. You explain so beautifully and clearly your spiritual thought process plus, I’m sure it brings more understanding of why relying on God for our protection is 100% reliable and truthful for readers of the Monitor who are looking for a better picture of life other than daunting material evidence.
A wonderful example of the protection of the everlasting arms of divine Love breaking through for everyone to read about.❣️
(In the lead in you mentioned. the 91 psalm – perhaps this should read Psalm 23? No need to post this❤️)
I know the words. I say the words. I know that God is Life and Truth and Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle.
But I have NEVER felt God’s Love sweeping over me, comforting me, healing me. What more must I do?
But they are Love at work
I have realized using spiritual means for healing includes understanding prayer. You get there by working through inspiration and praying until the light comes on. Try reading the chapter on Prayer in Science and Health and then try to be obedient to what it says.
This was a very enlightening article, dear Evan – Thank you! and dear D.P. ,
I find comfort and Love in the hymnals when I need them most. The gentle
words turn into Love for me and have helped in so many instances, to calm
and bring that comfort to thought. I have found that randomly opening, just
the right thoughts that I need, are there. Hymn #598, you may find helpful:
“Where you’re go-ing, Love will lead you. Where you’re walk-ing, Love will guide.
If you’re hungry, Love will feed you. Love is always at your side.
When you’re sleep-ing, Love will guard you, When you wak-en, comfort give.
Always faith-ful, Love surrounds you, For by Love alone we live.
Let not want or lack con-fine you, Love is ev-er your supply.
God’s great good shall now de-fine you, As on Love your hopes re-ly.
Though temp-ta-tion may as-sail you, Love will save you lest you stray.
Love’s pro-tec-tion nev-er fails you – God is Love and guards your way.”
: )
Hi Carol, thanks for sharing that wonderful hymn, it gave me a comforting feeling. Your advice for dear D.P. to turn to the hymnal was wise. I like the idea of praying silently and then just opening the hymnal to see what God/Love has put before us.
Evan thank you for your article, I love seeing what you share with your community in the local newpaper. I was dealing just yesterday with one of those awful headaches that you describe, which I have called “migraine.” I should say belief of migraine, because I know it is only a wrong belief about what is a legitimate experience of the child of God. It appears to be one of the few things I have YET to see conquered through spiritual understanding. I related when you said you tried to pray but found it difficult to think coherently. But I loved your focus on the words “I shall not want,” and the fact that you had the expectany of good. I too have the expectancy of good that these “headaches” will dissolve into their native nothingness as I recognize they are no true part of me and as I feel the love of the Shepherd caring for all my needs.
Mrs. Eddy said in Misc Writings (p.307) that if we wait and trust, never doubting, we will have all we need every moment.
Thank you for your kind words, Rose. And your declarations of
the “Shepherd’s”/God’s caring is very comforting. Like a
Shepherd keeps his watch over the gentle ones that no harm
can come to them, in any way, so does God care for us with all
of our needs, even whenever we might think or may yet not have
experienced yet, otherwise.
I love what Kim S wrote below, “God is always communicating
with you [us] but it is most helpful to realize it … try not to outline
what form the communication will take”.
In keeping with that theme, there is a quote by Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
who wrote,
“God spoke today in flowers, and I, who was waiting on words,
almost missed the conversation”.
***Here’s a title to an article if someone is interested in providing a link that opens completely for non-subscribers:
“Feeling God’s love brings healing” By George Fay (from the December 2016 issue of The Christian Science Journal)
https://journal.christianscience.com/issues/2016/12/134-12/feeling-god-s-love-brings-healing
Great article J. Thanks for posting. X
Dear J, this link doesn’t open up to full read, not for me.♡♡
I am very happy to read your testimony, dear Evan. It is very simple actually, if we trust our Shepherd, divine Love, our heavenly Father-Mother, as an innocent child who is so much loved by it’s parents ❤️
Dear J, am shouting out to you joyfully, that now I tried again, the article you are sending us, opens fully. Thank you very very much indeed!
I’m so glad Uta. And Kathleen, below, very lovingly provided the link so all can access it.
Thank you dear SpiritView friends for your loving support and suggestions. You are right about how healing our hymnal can be, and the article “Feeling God’s love Brings Healing”
is a gift from God today,
Also,I have started listing all the things I am grateful for (which really shows God’s love for us.)
I have been unable to work in our garden for the past three months. The weeds and neglect were overpowering. (We have 6 acres!) This morning,a group of 5 came by
and completed what would have taken me all month to accomplish. Thank you, son. for listening to Gad and supplying my need!
God, not Gad !!!
I’m with you DP. I haven’t either. I wish I could. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
I was able to open the above article as a “1 free article/per month”, which you might be able to also do. (It’s such a good article, I’m hoping someone can attach a link that everyone can have access to.) 🙂
Here’s an excerpt: “Without questioning that thought, I sat down, closed my eyes, and started to dwell on the love of this cat as the reflection of God’s love. Then I realized this love of God was also expressed in my love for my wife and my whole family. This sense of the reflection of God’s love continued to expand in my thought without effort to include love for my neighbors and even my whole community, until I really felt God’s love all around me.”
I have been CS all my life but have always envied testifiers who say they have felt the love of God overwhelming them, or even they sensed a bright light of love etc. I have never experienced this. I help at my church and try to live as I know I should but I don’t get the healings. I guess I’m not a very good Christian Scientist.
Dear Lucy, We are all learning, so have patience with yourself, keep loving
and seeing yourself as being a child of God that expresses the love of Love/God.
I had for many years felt the way you describe and sometimes feel, also, that
tinge of being in a shadow of that light that you mention. But in Reality, we are
all like rays of the sun. Your light will shine and is shining with the radiance of
Love. Some folks express this Love with an aura of a beatific glow that just beams
this Joy. That is a goal I strive for. Sometimes it is just love reflecting Love. But
as I keep reminding myself, don’t give up hope, keep doing what you are doing in
living as you know you should, have patience and try not to be hard on yourself.
God loves you and so does everyone here. Lots of love to you!
Dear Lucy,
Let’s not give up. Be grateful for every speck of Good you see today. That is God (Love) speaking to us.
Love, D.P.
Bless you Angel and DP for your loving comments. xxx
LOVE❣️
Dear D.P.,
I posted two links below that I have found very useful to getting beyond mere words to letting Love radiate.. Hope they are helpful for you, too.
Hello Evan –
Did you spend any time, either during the problem or after its disappearance, considering if there was a cause or reason for your discomfort? Some Christian Scientists might say that it was mental malpractice, others that it was an attack of animal magnetism or aggressive mortal mind. Was there a need to handle anything specific in your treatment?
Thanks and best wishes…
Thanks Evan – well done getting the article published. One of my favourite psalms.
To D.P. In California:
I have felt your anguish when I can’t seem to find the answers I need, but I have also felt God’s loving presence so I know that it is real. God IS communicating with his/ her creation and is in our thoughts always; we just need to recognize and acknowledge that fact.
This is what happened the first time I became aware that divine Love was actually in my thoughts. My husband and I were traveling in another country. We were having to spend way more money than we felt comfortable spending and we were having a miserable time. I didn’t know what to do but the situation felt desperate. We had saved money for a special vacation and it seemed to all be turning out wrong.
I had an old Sentinel, a paper one ( it was about 30 years ago.) I sat down and read that Sentinel over and over for about 3 hours, searching for guidance. Suddenly I became aware that I had been visualizing another place, a neighboring country, in my thought for quite a while as I read. I hadn’t tried to think of this other country; these thoughts were just coming to me very naturally. I realized that was our answer to the problem, go to this other country. Divine Love was communicating with me. At first it seemed very vague, but after I acknowledged that it was God painting the pictures in my thought the ideas became more clear.
It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, but we packed up, got a bus to downtown in a very busy city, rented a car ( and negotiated using an unfamiliar language) , and drove to that other country by sundown. There were lots of “ little” problems we had to deal with, but they melted away, one by one, as we kept our goal
foremost in thought. We had a wonderful vacation in the neighboring country, and trusting God opened up our thinking to many unplanned adventures , and we spent less money in a country with a reputation for being expensive.
What I am trying to tell you is that whether you acknowledge it or not, God is always communicating with you, but it is most helpful to realize it. It can seem difficult sometimes, okay, often, but try not to outline what form the communication will take. It may take some effort, but know it is already there.
I hope this helps.
Very helpful Kim❣️
i have read at your suggestion Evan this same Psalm to my sick laying down horse. He got up and walked away peacefully. That horse was so full of love his entire life! Many thanks to your help with all my calls to you for our family and critters!!!!
Thank you and bless you Evan.
There is so much LOVE shining through this healing inspiration …it is like an expanding light and a perfect hug for each of us and the world.
You so lovingly express the moment’s need and your response to the call and direction of the Shepherd in- “I shall not want” .That moment’s need, the call, the assurance of the Shepherd…the turning, following, yielding….remembering the authority to trust the Shepherd….authority to be still, quiet wants and consciously led to the “still waters to refresh”…
While reading I felt the Christ-love dawning for you in that moment of light and immediately felt the hug and assurance within too…the Shepherd love, Christ-peace, health-peace, calling and Shepherding ….reaching out and calling to us too. Such light and love for the community and a blessing for our world!
Bless Tri-City Herald for sharing the light and Shepherd with everyone too!
Thanks Evan – powerful medicine! BTW, that shirt ROCKS!!
Thanks Evan for your beautiful article. This Psalm had been a great help in my life.
Really like the thought you shared…”I have everything I need to be healed”. Thanks, Evan.
Will put that in Mind/medicine cabinet of thoughts to heal by.
Thank you Evan!
Thank you Evan for sharing your beautiful healing and inspiration–so clear and understandable to the general public. All Bible students love the 23rd Psalm, and your application was perfect.
Here is a link to the first Journal article shared above, which will hopefully make it accessible to all:
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/1i83raika5k?s=copylink
Thank you Kathleen – the article is accessible for all! 🙂
Thank you Kathleen!
Yes, thank you very much, Kathleen! That’s really a helpful article!
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2ddmb5fkxwe?s=copylink
I also like this one for feeling Gods Love. It should be free to all. It’s called- HEALING- because there is no fear in the allness of LOVE. It’s by Carole Dee Lewis from the Shared Reflections. April 2014 CS Journal.
Thank you Evan and all. I especially appreciate the suggested articles for further illumination.
And I like this one too, which describes the process for feeling God‘s love, God‘s presence. It should be accessible to all.
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/2l6svti3auw?s=copylink
It’s by Annette Kreutziger-Herr from the March 18, 2024 Sentinel . It’s titled : “prayer is like feeding a bird.” Subtitle: When we pray, we can become quiet, wait patiently, and be present with God.
I keep a post-it note on my bedroom mirror, as a reminder, which says 1) Stillness, 2) patience 3) Presence. We must practice quiet time❤️
Tremendous. And beautifully explained. Thank you.