Turning to Your Bible

MY grandmother always kept her Bible close at hand. She read it several times a day. Her Bible was more to her than a dry, historical book of moral codes; it was her source of help, counsel, direction, comfort, inspiration, and healing. It was a best friend.As the years have passed, the Bible has begun to open up to me in a similar way. But I know that what has helped me to feel this way about the Scriptures and to understand their spiritual, healing message is a book called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. It was written by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, who had a deep love for the Bible. In fact, she turned to it at a time when she had been seriously injured in a fall and was not expected to recover. She op ened to an account in Matthew of one of Jesus' healings. As she read, she was filled with an awareness of God's allness, of the perfect reality of life in Spirit. She was healed. From this experience she went on to spend several years studying the Bible to discover more about the law of healing that Christ Jesus had demonstrated so freely and that she felt certain had healed her. In Science and Health she points out: "From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over matter. Moses proved the power of Mind by what men called miracles; so did Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha. The Christian era was ushered in with signs and wonders. Think of the impact of the Bible! It illustrates for mankind this unerring, universal, divine law that we are free to apply to every need. Jesus himself said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. The Bible is like a casebook, showing us the precedents that strengthen our own application of God's law. It inspires us to challenge sickness and sin through the power of God and through a higher understanding of m an as His spiritual image. It tenderly comforts us while it guides us to the realization of spiritual reality--and healing. When I'm faced with a challenge, whether physical, financial, or emotional, I like to think, "What's in my Bible that can shed light on the answer to this need? For instance, there was the time when we were faced with no income. My husband worked in commission sales, and a nationwide recession was making the sale of his product nearly impossible. I was at home with our two preschool children. As I prayed about this situation one morning, I turned to my Bible and thought of the account of the widow and th e prophet Elisha in II Kings. She told him that she was in debt and that her sons would be taken as slaves if she did not receive help soon. Elisha asked her, "What hast thou in the house? She replied that she had "a pot of oil. She was directed to gather many empty vessels from her neighbors and pour the oil she had into these vessels. Obediently she did this, and the oil kept flowing until the woman had filled all the vessels. She was able to sell the oil, pay off the debt, and live on what was left. This account gave me courage and a clear command to get busy and use what I had, so to speak, in my house. I had had musical training and began asking friends with little children if they would like them to participate in a musical play group. Then I began getting requests to teach private music lessons. All of this could be done at home. The income helped to sustain us through a number of important years while the children were small, and I came to love turning to my Bible more than ever. It never ceases to amaze me that every time I think I've come up with a situation that won't be covered in the Bible, there's always the perfect answer.