“This planning had taken God out of the equation.”

I’ve been slowly progressing toward a public practice. Somedays I wonder if I have made any progress in it and Christian Science. Then I can look back at what God has done that I’ve been able to witness and it helps. While most of my practice is still for immediate family, I find that I am being called on by Association family now, too. And there have been some good results.

Deepening my understanding of what Christ meant by “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” has been the biggest impetus in my progress. (John 8:32)  The more I understand this idea, the better my healing work is. Why? Because the less the healer considers the work personally, the better the work is. Then we are literally just witnessing Truth. And seeing God IS the healing.

I had one particularly strong experience I’d like to share. This spring I received a late-night phone call from a much older family member. Their words were slurring and very difficult to understand. They were experiencing the belief of a stroke and needed immediate treatment. Their spouse was out of town. They couldn’t even lift their other hand to reach the TV remote to turn off the noise while we spoke. It seemed a dire situation to them and to me. The individual was supposed to drive over 1,000 miles alone, two days later, to meet up with their spouse. They were already concerned about their health so were pouring over maps and finding every rest stop, and calculating how far apart they were. They wanted to safely make the trip. Clearly this planning had taken God out of the equation.

I admit, my first reaction wasn’t good. Thankfully I didn’t voice error, but I was scared. I had been woken by a loved family member who was alone, experiencing a stroke and possibly worse. There were plenty of reasons for this to not work out well. Error silently argued that maybe I ought to call an ambulance for them in case my treatment wasn’t good enough. Instead I listened for God. The individual had been led to call me, so that means the work can be done.

I was led to declare fairly radical ideas. Truly, I was treating my own thinking — the only thing a practitioner actually treats — while making startling declarations to the patient. It started off like this: “You are not in the body, have never been in the body. The body is an idea residing in you!” Then I continued along this line of thinking, somewhat like this: “The house you think you are sitting in, thinking you live in? It is inside of you; you have never been inside of it. The yard you mow and the plants you planted? They are not outside of you, but within you. The roads you think you are going to drive on? They are within you! All the states you will be traveling across, all the trees and mountains, they are within you! The entire route, everything you see? It is within you! Now, God is the only Mind, and is your right Mind. You are looking out from Mind. Mind reigns, good is here, and all that you can see is within your consciousness, ruled by Love.”

The above aren’t the exact words, but they are very similar to the audible treatment Mind gave, and that I spoke.

In about 10 minutes the individual was able to reach the remote and turn off the TV, and after that, managed to walk to another room to get their Science and Health, by Mary Baker Eddy.  The terrible symptoms were rapidly disappearing. About two days later they drove over a thousand miles without a single problem, and with great joy! And because I personally couldn’t do a single thing for them, I learned another lesson in the power of God! I surely could have had no personal effect!