Here’s an email I just received from a seeker for Truth who walked into my office one day a few months ago. He said I could share it with you.
I love his story because it eloquently spells out a journey he’s been on from discovering Christian Science for the first time, to grappling with it’s teachings and not always successfully, to the healing light that inevitably began to dawn as he persevered in his prayers and studies.
Happy Feet
I walked a mile this evening around the neighborhood and it was wonderful. While this may not seem like a significant announcement to some, it has considerable meaning for me. Having struggled many years with arthritis in my feet and surgical removal of two toes and regular visits to the foot doctor, I had been previously limiting my walking to around the house. And even that had been a painful exercise.
But all that has changed. Let me explain.
For a few months I had been driving by a strip mall where an office sign said Christian Science Healing. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I walked in and asked, “OK, who are you? And what do you do?” That led to an interesting talk and loan of a book called Science and Health.
For a bookworm like myself, I found it a difficult read. Very hard to grasp what the writer was saying. So much of it seemed conflicting with what I understood. But the chapter called Fruitage had some stories of people who by simply reading the book began to experience better health. While that didn’t make sense, it sure caught my attention. I needed an increase in better health, so I read some other sources of information and set the book aside for a spell.
One of the first things I learned was how prayer can be both a science and an art. I considered myself a praying person and had asked for help on many occasions. Yet, it seems that a practitioner uses prayer as a tool in an entirely different way that I had used prayer.
I finally determined to ask for help and see if this practitioner would apply prayer to my painful feet. He agreed and later emailed me some ideas and thoughts that I printed out and read and re-read and considered their importance. He ended with the thought, “happy feet.” Let me assure you, that was a new thought for me!
His treatment seemed at first nothing more than a positive affirmation and I didn’t notice any difference. But I soon learned that a spiritual healing comes first before the reflection in matter.
I next read a biography about Mary Baker Eddy and was surprised at what I learned. As a student of the Bible, Eddy devoted herself to understanding the Scriptures not just as a literal history of events but rather as transcending beyond the words and to seeing the spiritual principles involved.
I returned to both Science and Health and also the New Testament to read with different eyes.
What I discovered surprised me. Not seeing the written words as a material experience but as a spiritual experience opened up whole new vistas of learning. I began to look forward to my morning hour of reading to find what new idea would come to me that had never been mine before in previous readings of the New Testament.
Christian Science was a new way to discover the character of God and the attributes of the Spirit. Here was a way to see myself in a different light. It was an opportunity for me to recognize errors of thought that I had held for many years.
Each day was a wonderful journey.
I don’t know when it happened exactly, but I began to notice that my feet no longer hurt when I walked around the house. And I gave thanks in prayer for this experience. I continued to feel stronger in limbs and renewed in spirit.
Now I would be happy if that was the end of my experience with prayer and treatment but it was not.
Now I would be happy if that was the end of my experience with prayer and treatment but it was not.
By this time I had read the Gospels twice and was starting in a third time. I begin to see times in the day when certain ideas from my Scripture reading would reappear and come to mind. I then realized that Spirit was taking opportunity to teach me at times most appropriate. I began to take these thoughts more seriously. That is why when I awoke this morning at 6 a.m. and my mind turned to the parable of the talents and how some servants had more added upon and one servant had his talent taken away, I took notice.
I realized this parable was not about money and the material things, it was a spiritual lesson. I thought of what I had received from God. That it was a gift and I felt it included an increase in health and my “happy feet.”
As I thought of what I could do with my “happy feet,” I was impressed to take a walk. So I wrote that on my white board under my TO DO list. Before the day was out, I put on my coat and took a walk. A wonderful walk! A spiritual walk!
As I walked an old song came to mind and I could not get it out of my mind…
I’ll Walk With God
I’ll walk with God from this day on.
His helping hand I’ll lean upon.
This is my prayer, my humble plea,
This is my prayer, my humble plea,
May the Lord be ever with me.
There is no death, tho’ eyes grow dim.
There is no death, tho’ eyes grow dim.
There is no fear when I’m near to Him.
I’ll lean on Him forever
I’ll lean on Him forever
And He’ll forsake me never.
He will not fail me
He will not fail me
As long as my faith is strong,
Whatever road I may walk along.
I’ll walk with God, I’ll take His hand.
Whatever road I may walk along.
I’ll walk with God, I’ll take His hand.
I’ll talk with God, He’ll understand.
I’ll pray to Him, each day to Him
I’ll pray to Him, each day to Him
And He’ll hear the words that I say.
His hand will guide my throne and rod
His hand will guide my throne and rod
And I’ll never walk alone
While I walk with God.
While I walk with God.
~ Paul Francis Webster
Evan here again…
I enjoy reading this account because it shows how our journey is not always easy. Questions loom to be answered, challenges beg for attention, and doubt appears. To understand Truth may require some major wrestling, agonizing, soul-searching and yielding. But God has a blessing for every honest desire, and the pure motive brings its rightful reward. Healing comes…
This so cool. Persistence pays off — in a big way!
Thanks for sharing.
This was very moving.(no pun was intended, at least at first). Thanks.
I appreciate this testimony so much. So often people nowadays say thatScience and Health is too difficult to understand and give up. This individual had a similar experience, but it showed he didn’t give upand when he got a proper appreciation of our Leader Mary Baker Eddyafter reading her biography, he was able to read it with understanding. I also appreciate the fact that healing is still as powerful today.
Thank you,
Nancy
I love that Mary Baker Eddy confidently states: “Put this book in the hands of your patients and it will heal them.”
Enough said!
with Love, Kate