While conversing with a friend today I realized that the healing we’re looking for is not always the healing we first need.
When faced with a bodily complaint, the temptation is to assume we need the ache or pain to go away before we are free. We put a material condition on our freedom, and then hope, even wait, for something to happen physically before we proceed with our life. This may or may not be the need.
For example, several years ago, while lecturing around the country on Christian Science, I was in a large theater in S. CA preparing to go on stage. I was battling a splitting headache and sickness that would not release. I was in no shape to speak before 300 people, and it was ten minutes to starting time.
Hiding in the balcony in a quiet corner where I could get my thoughts collected, I prayed to understand better that God would give me everything I needed to fulfill my responsibilities.
As I affirmed the immediacy of my spiritual perfection and the unfailing care of divine Love, I saw clearly that I did not need to wait for the pain to go away before I could proceed.
God is All. So, in essence, God was the speaker, God was the speech, God was the presenter, and God was the energy, health and poise that would make the lecture a success. I did not have to wait for something to change materially in the body before God could do the job well.
Confident that the outcome of the event was totally in God’s hands, I headed for the lobby and then to the stage. The closer I drew, the less pain I felt. By the time I stood in front of the audience and greeted them with a big verbal bear-hug Hello! the illness and pain was gone. I was off and running with my talk, and the lecture was very successful.
I learned many lessons from that experience.
When I was suffering, my initial prayer was to be rid of the pain. But the pain persisted. Under the pressure of the moment, and with no choice but to go on stage, I yielded my worries entirely to God, acknowledging that He was doing all the doing, and if I really trusted Him, I could proceed without fear. I obeyed, and as I obeyed, the physical suffering rapidly diminished and I was able to follow through.
My healing was a strengthening of trust in God’s omnipresent and ever-active health and harmony. The physical healing was secondary.
It takes discernment and focused listening to decide the need of the moment when praying for relief. But one truth is for sure. All spiritual healing is in internal job. As we yield to spiritual truth, the pertinent truth we obey will take the fear away and any physical suffering it causes and lead us to the total freedom that is rightfully ours.
Thanks, Evan, this is extremely helpful.
Thanks also for your continuing blog, which is a wonderful source of help and inspiration.
Dear Evan, Your experience reminded me of a story Mary Baker Eddy relates in “Science and Health” on page 261:
“If one turns away from the body with such absorbed interest as to forget it, the body experiences no pain. Under the strong impulse of a desire to perform his part, a noted actor was accustomed night after night to go upon the stage and sustain his appointed task, walking about as actively as the youngest member of the company. This old man was so lame that he hobbled every day to the theatre, and sat aching in his chair till his cue was spoken, — a signal which made him as oblivious of physical infirmity as if he had inhaled chloroform, though he was in the full possession of his so-called senses.”
It also reminded me of St. Paul who traveled very extensively accomplishing his mission even though he had a “thorn in the flesh” (II Cor. 12:7).
Guess the bottom line is that being aware of God and His idea makes you unaware of anything else.
Thanks so much for your blog.
Gloria
Evan-
I had a very similar experience yesterday. I also had a very bad headache, although I was doing a variety of activities that were blessing our public elementary school, our branch church, and my children. My prayer also was God-centered, knowing that so-called material circumstances, such as length of rest at night, calories consumed or burned, or chemical imbalances were no part of my true being, which is spiritual. I clung to this desperately, and comleted every last item on my “to do” list. Towards the end of the afternoon, I was free to do even more. I was free of the headache, and experienced a burst of energy. Later, I was complemented and truly appreciated for having undertaken a most cumbersome task that benefited from my God-inspired creativity.
It was a matter of trust, and a sense of love, that made me continue with my tasks, instead of crawling back into bed. I did reap the benefits of healing, and others were blessed with a job well done as a direct result of God’s perfect care of all our needs.
Thanks for your continued sharing.
Lorna,
A wonderful example of not giving into error and succumbing to defeat. Love empowers us to continue with right activity and right ideas…
Thanks for sharing.