A Christian Science Healing

        While reading this morning from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, I couldn't help but think of a marvelous healing a friend of ours had through relying on God's power.

        In the section known as the trial in which mortal man is condemned to illness and death by fear and material law, Christian Science becomes the man's attorney, argues for the supremacy of the Bible regarding the rights of man, and the man is completely healed.

        It is this part that stood out to me:  "The Jury of Spiritual Senses agreed at once upon a verdict, and there resounded throughout the vast audience chamber of Spirit the cry, Not guilty.  Then the prisoner rose up regenerated, strong, free.  We noticed, as he shook hands with his counsel, Christian Science, that all sallowness and debility had disappeared.  His form was erect and commanding, his countenance beaming with health and happiness. Divine Love had cast out fear."  (Page 442)

        This describes beautifully the experience of a friend of ours we knew in Massachusetts who became ill as a young man.  He was bedfast for many years.  It was here that a neighbor mentioned Christian Science to his family.  They got a copy of Science and Health which the man began reading.  Heretofore he wasn't even able to get out of bed with help and take a short drive in the car.  But all this changed, slowly at first, but it changed.  Complete freedom came.  And the striking part of this to us, and to all who know him, was the remarkable energy, good posture, beaming face, joy in living that he expresses.

        He, like so many others in the world, is a walking advertisement for the healing power that comes to one as he understands divine laws as made plain by the teachings of Christian Science.

The 3 Greatest Things

It  has been said,
I know I've read
That the 3 greatest things
In the Christian life
Are humility/humility/humility.
If you and I intend to be
Soldiers of Jesus Christ,
Purveyors of peace and harmony,
We must ask God for and cultivate
A daily watchful humility;
Shun self-assertiveness and strife
When discord's banners we see;
Let Christly love confront the foe
And show the way to tranquility.
Living the truths Christ Jesus
Taught his warriors to believe
Is waging battles God's own way.
It brings us strength from Him to not react.
This keeping peace for Christ's dear sake
Achieves a victory upheaved thought cannot:
We come through potential conflict
With Godlike nature intact.

To Bring God to the World*

"I've never once felt close to God"
A friend confided recently --
An amazing thing to hear
For those of us who do.
Could this be the problem,
That she, like so many others,
Are trying to find peace and joy
While leaving Christ Jesus out,
Whose essential role they doubt
(If they even think about it at all)?
God does want His children close to Him --
To have all the good He has to give.
But the path there is one --
The one given the world
By His beloved Son.


"I am the way, the truth, and the life:
No man cometh unto the Father,
But by me"
Said our Lord and Master dear.
          (John 14:6)


*This, the reason I blog for Christ Jesus and Christian Science.

Guidance

Whether in matters material or ethereal,

We need the wisdom of the one great Mind,

Since none but the all-knowing Father

Can direct our lives aright.

We don't have to go through life hit-or-miss,

And wake up one day to find

Our footsteps have slid,

Not when we seek God's perfect counsel,

The way our blessed Master did.

So,when foot first touches floor,

Is not one moment too soon

To turn to God and pray:

"May this day ahead be lived

With Your will its guide and core."

God Be Praised

        While driving back just now from buying some flowers to plant for summer, happened to hear Handel's anthem, "Sing to God", with verses from 3 different Psalms.  Very uplifting.

       It brought to mind a conversation I had yesterday with a friend from Florida, also a Christian Scientist. We both expressed the thought, where would we be today without Christian Science?  What would we do without its teachings?  Implied was, with the access it gives us to God's glorious restorative power.

        Of course, my friend and I (and everyone else) aren't faced with having to go through life without God's help when up against it.  God be praised that Mary Baker Eddy discovered His divine laws that Christ Jesus knew and proved for mankind's everlasting benefit.  And that she founded the Christian Science Church which goes out all over the world, making available divine truths that set us free.

Safe Travel

        The Old Testament says, "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders."  (Deuteronomy 33:12)  Statements from the Bible, this among them, always give me a feeling of safety when I have to take a trip.  It's wonderful to know that we can be safe, wherever we happen to go.

        The five physical senses tell us that we are subject to the material conditions surrounding us, even to other people who can be irresponsible, dangerous.  But from the Bible we learn that God, perfect Love, is the one infinite supreme power and that man is the beloved offspring of his Maker, never for a moment separated from God's all-encompassing care.  And neither the victim nor the perpetrator of violent acts.This God-created man is the true selfhood of each of us.  The demand is to realize clearly what is true of God and man, despite appearances that would contradict that truth.

       Because our true selfhood is inseparable from the almighty Father, there's a very profound sense in which we can say that safe travel isn't dependent upon where we happen to be.  God's child is never, for even a second, deprived of Father's loving care, never out of this place of spiritual security.

        As I have found, a practical understanding of our unity with God is available for all.  Through the study of Christian Science one learns those spiritual truths that empower him to conduct his life without fear and uncertainty.  Through prayer and the knowledge Christ Jesus had that "He that sent me is with me:  the Father hath not left me alone", we can stay safe, wherever we happen to travel.

Our Father's Preserving Care

                                                             John Robert Howell



        (With the recent storms here in the South, have been thinking about this subject, and feel these Bible verses will offer comfort to readers.)



        Psalm 40:11   "...O Lord:  let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me."  This from New Living Translation, "Lord, don't hold back your tender mercies from me./Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me."


        Jeremiah 31:3, the last phase of which reads "...therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn the.."  NLT has:  With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."  English Standard Version has:  "...therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."


        Psalm 121:8:  "The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore."  NLT has:  "The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever." Holman Christian Standard Bible has:  "The Lord will protect your coming and going/both now and forever. ESV preserves the King James version.


        Psalm 116:6 says "The Lord preserveth the simple:  I was brought low, and he helped me."  NLT has:  The Lord protects those of childlike faith;/I was facing death, and he saved me."  New International Version has:  "The Lord protects the unwary;/when I was brought low, he saved me:  The "NIV Study Bible" has this note on the verse:  "unwary.  Those who are childlike in their sense of dependence on and trust in the Lord." Part of that note reads:  "the simple:  The childlike, those whose understanding and judgment have not yet matured..."