By Elaina Simpson, C.S.
Healing is about glorifying God, and sharing this testimony is in gratitude to God, Love and to share some ideas to inspire healing during this time. We find in biblical study that immunity and health are not specific to certain individuals, but available to us all.
So let's dive into this Monday Moment!
All of the sudden one day, my husband exhibited all of the symptoms associated with COVID-19. To determine if he was fit to attend work, he took a drive-thru test which came back positive for the virus. Our state's recommendation is to quarantine for two weeks and we began this process immediately. The diagnosis came as a surprise as previously we’d happily followed all the strict city guidelines. However, we knew from our study of Christian Science that contagion is mental in nature, and that error or disease is unreal, since God in reality made all to be ‘very good.’ (I know, that's a huge statement. Bear with me.) Prayerfully noting the power of good, God, instead of giving mental thought attention and power to disease, brought many blessings.
What is called COVID-19, is just another word for what Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, calls “aggressive mental suggestion.” Fearful thoughts might seem real, but it is only an aggressive suggestion. In our quarantine, we worked to handle the aggressive suggestion prayerfully that God’s spiritual ideas could be seized or overtaken by a virus, or influenced by a power outside of God, Good. To the material senses and according to world thought, contracting a virus is a real possibility. But seeing what God sees, with our prayerful, spiritual sense, reveals this to be an impossibility. This truth applied properly brings blessings. We also prayed to know that God's ideas are at one with God, Mind. So, in spiritual reality there was no subconscious human mind apart from Mind, (another word for God) that could surrender to or consent to the world-thought of undetected, festering and transferring disease.
That first evening I had a choice to make prayerfully-- To care for my husband, or to distance myself away from him. Since I had been around him and already in quarantine for the upcoming two weeks, it felt natural to care for, and be near him. In this case, I felt confident in my study of Christian Science to do this without fear. I had many healings in Christian Science, and felt confident considering previous experience relying on prayer in urgent situations. Rather than caring for him naively and leaning on nothing (which is not a helpful choice), I chose to lean on God. (Each of us will be led prayerfully and individually on how to make the safest choices for ourselves and our family.)
That evening, we prayed specifically to handle any belief of fear. Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Destroy fear, and you end fever. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 376:26–27) In our prayer together, it became hard to overlook the apparent dis-ease my husband had been feeling regarding intense work-related responsibilities. The company had recently fired some of his coworkers, intensifying the environment and his workload. We discussed how we cannot accept error (dis-ease or lack-of-ease) in one instance while trying to deny it in another. We noted how natural it is for God’s ideas to let go of dis-ease, no matter how it tried to present itself… Whether that was through work, or in regards to health. Because we are made in God’s very good ‘image and likeness’ (Genesis 1) and are spiritual, it’s natural to let go of that which does not belong. He felt more free and could finally rest.
I later awoke that evening in discomfort unable to rest. It certainly felt like there was power in this disease, or a power apart from God's goodness. Noting that, I could tell that the belief of animal magnetism needed to be handled. Basically, this means declaring mentally and prayerfully, that there is nothing that can pull thought mesmerically onto thoughts unlike God, Good. Whether that be fear, contagion, or anything unlike God. In reality, God is all and is the only power. That power is good. I was reminded of a recent idea we had read Science and Health together. “A man was made to believe that he occupied a bed where a cholera patient had died. Immediately the symptoms of this disease appeared, and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught ‘cholera’ by material contact, because no cholera patient had been in that bed.” (SH 154:9) It was only the man’s belief that he was sick, showing the thought-health connection. This example presented the opportunity to let go of the illusive nature of the disease. Because God is all, all disease has to be only an illusion in one’s thinking. I could either believe (even in a .001% chance possibility), that I was in a room with something that was unhealthy and dangerous, or I could know that God was good, and was filling the room with Love. Having both mental ideals was not possible. As a Christian Science Practitioner (one who prays with patients to find healing), I had witnessed patients finding quick freedom from these beliefs. Looking back on those quick healings with joy and gratitude was helpful. In further prayer, I was reminded of something that had happened two months prior. After hearing unfortunate pandemic news, I took some time for prayer on our backyard deck. My prayer went, “God what do I need to know? Because I don’t know myself!” I took a moment to listen, and when I looked up, the most beautiful bat flew out of the woods, overhead. I was struck by the beauty of it, the way it flew and how sweet it looked. The majority of the reports on the news (some disputed) suggested this disease originated from bats. I recalled how impossible it seemed that this sweet idea of God could harm another idea of God. In God's view, there could be no cause or effect outside of God (whether people wanted to say it was the bats, or not!). I was grateful God showed me what I needed to know in that moment, in a way I could understand.
The rest of the evening I listened to a Journal issue. Unrelated harboring of even the slightest thoughts of discomfort were lifted. It was an opportunity to pray to witness God’s uninterrupted goodness, rather than to attempt to prayerfully fix or change a bad situation. Not surprisingly, the discomfort subsided every time my thought went off of myself and the problem. A little bit after that, I was able to rest peacefully.
The next morning, my husband’s fever returned to its ‘native nothingness’, and the discomfort I had experienced was all gone. We were so grateful that the body, material time tables and recovery time did not have to dictate our comfort and health. After that day, we both felt so much more free.
That day, I kept praying regarding various symptom annoyances and about retaining normal faculties. I also had new patients calling for prayerful help regarding the same challenge. I was tempted to think I was about as helpful as a wet blanket, but I knew well how Eddy answers the question, “Is it right for me to treat others, when I am not entirely well myself?”
She wrote, “The late John B. Gough is said to have suffered from an appetite for alcoholic drink until his death; yet he saved many a drunkard from this fatal appetite. Paul had a thorn in the flesh: one writer thinks that he was troubled with rheumatism, and another that he had sore eyes; but this is certain, that he healed others who were sick. It is unquestionably right to do right; and healing the sick is a very right thing to do.” (Mis.71:1–10)
Previous patients found quick recovery, but for me the suggestion of disease was still lingering. The suggestion would come, You’ve done a good job, the aggressive part is over. You don’t need to continue praying, the disease is just taking its course and will go away soon. But, there was no course for it to take, as it was only an impression made on my thought. If God is all and good, all erroneous suggestions, such as disease is 100% nothing, no-thing, a “zero” an “COVID” was no exception.
A few months back, I was surprised to hear (the bundled news) that a relative had contracted and passed from this disease. Because of this, it felt tempting when not feeling completely well, to accept disease as even the minutest reality. But I put my foot down mentally, to the suggestion of a lack of good trying to creep into thought. In thinking about handling mental suggestions of statistics, I remembered, “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” (Psalms 91:7) This was a promise, that suggestions of destruction could not come nigh thee. When God’s law is applied properly in mental prayer, we are safe. This spiritual fact goes for all of God’s creation. I also knew mentally that God never saw any person pass on from this disease, and that they were safe in God, spiritually speaking. This is not wishful thinking, but it’s about the spiritual reality, and getting past the illusion of life in matter.
I called a close Christian Scientist friend to help me handle any lingering, impersonal resistance to healing while I handled the other cases. It was clear to me that I couldn’t be left out of any good. That thought was my turning point to full recovery and current patients quickly reported healing. Prayer was efficient, practical and effective. I fulfilled the rest of the two week quarantine in compliance with state guidelines.
It’s always true that, “...A thorough perusal of the author's publications heals sickness...Perseverance in the perusal of the book has generally completely healed such cases.” (SH p. 446:5–6, 9) Eddy also writes, “Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee.” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 149:31–2)
Holding our head higher in prayer, we glimpse new views of divine goodness. When a test was taken again before returning to work, the attendant noted how well we did under the circumstances, noting for records that we did not see a physician. Have a lovely evening,
Elaina
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