“the simplicity of the angel thought that came delighted me”

A few weeks ago our daughter was nearing the end of her junior year in high school, and the human picture had been a demanding one – socially, academically, and athletically.  She is a devoted soccer player and wants to play in college, so she has been playing throughout the year on a team outside of school.  During one particular soccer game, she felt that she had injured her groin.  When she told me, I made some mental declarations of the Truth, but did not really take the time to ponder them, or demand healing.  I think we had both succumbed to the feeling that all we needed was to get to the end of the year, and then she’d be able to rest and recover.

She followed her coach’s advice and rested, sitting out for a few practices, but the injury did not go away and she was feeling frustrated.  Then, last weekend, she was in a tournament for which she had to play a possible five games in three days.  She soldiered through the first few games and her team did well enough to go through to the semi-finals, but she felt frustrated by being in pain and not able to play up to her usual standard.

I realized that I’d been feeling a little frustrated myself – mostly that she showed no inclination to pray about the problem as I felt she should be doing.  That brought me up short.  The morning of the semi-final, it was very clear to me that it was my duty to myself to see her perfection, no matter what she was thinking; it was my duty as her mom, but also to the world as a Christian Scientist to challenge mortal mind assumptions about life and activity wherever they appeared.  That thought really gave some new clarity to Mrs. Eddy’s requirement that we carry out our duty to “God […our] Leader, and to mankind.” (Man 42:4)  When I thought about why I need to pray in those terms, it seemed much more urgent and important.  It just wasn’t good enough to know that our daughter had some free time coming up and hope that the pain would go away of its own accord.

That cleared the way for the real work. I realized that I was beginning in a place of real trust that the healing could take place.  Reading the many healings that have been part of Association assignments helped a lot, as did some recent healings of my own.  I knew that although the “thought-taking” of the coach’s recommendations had been completely ineffective, we could see divine Love lift us right out of a gloomy mortal picture.  I reached out with unreserved yearning to know what God was knowing about my daughter at that moment, and the simplicity  of the angel thought that came delighted me: “She is not injured.”  I understood this to mean that she had not been injured by a difficult year, or by social disappointments, or by a so-called physical “event,” because she is ALWAYS “hid with Christ in God,” (Col 3:3) in the realm of the real.  It was such a simple thought but it carried great spiritual weight and conviction.  I could SEE its truth.

When I offered these thoughts to our daughter, she was very receptive, thanked me, and said it was helpful – as is always the case when our words are based in spiritual conviction.

She went off to the game with her dad, and I prayed a little longer to protect the truth and reality of what I had seen.  I then went about the things I needed to do that day.

When she got home later, she was full of the fact that her team had lost, and the various things that had gone wrong.  Then, almost as an afterthought, she said, “But my groin didn’t hurt at all, so that was a healing!”  I loved how light and matter-of-fact her acknowledgement of the healing was, as that was how it had seemed to me.  It was great to be reminded that when we remember that God is the healer, healing is not burdensome, but light and joyful.