Prayer brings healing
A Christian Science perspective: Even in difficult situations, we can turn to God for help.
Recent news stories have reminded me of how valuable it is to pray daily for ourselves, our community, and the world. Prayer, based on a spiritual understanding of God’s ever-presence and loving care for His creation, can have a powerful effect in human affairs. I have seen many proofs of this in my experience as a lifelong practicing Christian Scientist, including during a situation with carbon monoxide in my home many years ago.
For several weeks, each time I went into my home office, which was on the ground floor of my inner-city town house, I found myself getting very drowsy. It was hard to think clearly or to get anything done. This was not a right or normal situation, and I began to pray about it.
I had learned in Christian Science that I was truly a child of God – a spiritual idea, made in His image and likeness, as the Bible tells us in the first chapter of Genesis. Each of us, as God’s self-expression, is forever strong and well, ever conscious of good. As I came to better understand these spiritual truths, I saw that we all have an inherent ability to think clearly and fulfill right activity.
Things came to a head one day when I found I had momentarily become unconscious in my office. As I regained awareness, these words from a hymn in the “Christian Science Hymnal” were echoing in thought:
Our God is All-in-all,
His children cannot fear;
See baseless evil fall,
And know that God is here. (Emily F. Seal, No. 267)
I felt comforted by the promise of God’s, divine Love’s, allness. I also realized I needed to leave the room, and did so. I continued to pray, acknowledging God’s ever-presence and absolute control over His spiritual creation, and affirming, as the Bible tells us, that “we live, and move, and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28) and are ever safe in His care (see Psalms 139:7-10).
Recalling a statement made by Christ Jesus to his disciples – “there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known” (Matthew 10:26) – I asked God to show me what I needed to see about the situation confronting me, to guide me to appropriate steps to address it. As I prayed, the thought came strongly to have the furnace inspected. I was able to make an appointment for the next day. And I stayed out of that room in the meantime.
The technician who came discovered that there was a serious carbon monoxide problem in the enclosed basement furnace room and in my office, which was located on the floor directly above. Other parts of the house were all right, being more open and having good ventilation. As he checked things out, the man discovered that disintegrating bricks had blocked a substantial portion of the town house’s chimney. A chimney sweep cleaned everything out, and we were later able to get the chimney repaired. There were no further problems, and no adverse aftereffects of any kind, for which I was most grateful.
God, Love, eternally cares for all of His creation. Each one of us, in reality, is inseparable from God as His creation. We are forever safe in Love’s care. These spiritual facts mean that when we turn to God in prayer, we can find the answers we need, even when we are facing difficult challenges. As Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us, “Step by step will those who trust Him find that ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’ ” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 444).