“I’m so grateful…for the amazing relevancy of the Bible and Science and Health.”

My 9^th grade son was struggling with an eating disorder earlier this year.  I guess it had been going on for a while, but it all came to a head back in March.  This was frightening for me in that I felt that I was losing him—mentally and physically.  He was distant and gaunt.  I studied the Bible lesson on Substance, filling every space in my quarterly with notes and citations, and I felt so much better.  But when his condition hadn’t improved after a few days, I went into despair.  Everywhere I went that day, I was at the verge of tears.  I had no idea what to do.  I was afraid of confronting him for fear of making things worse.  However, coming home from the store that evening, the most gorgeous sunset followed me.  Every turn I took, there it was.  I had never seen any sunset so expansive and beautiful and finally had to stop the car to take it in.  All I could think was that if God could do this, then He could do anything and that nothing was beyond His power.   

After seeing the sunset I stopped feeling paralyzed with fear and began to see what steps to take.  My husband and I decided that we should both talk to him and let him know that we were there to help him and that we loved him.  We took away his iPod/phone and video games.  When he asked why, I told him he needed some fresh thought. (My kids are both familiar with that term.) We ended up talking a lot and uncovered much ignorance and misinformation, as well as fear.  I printed out the lesson on Substance and some relevant references and asked him to read them along with the chapter on Prayer in Science and Health, by Mary Baker Eddy.  He had been asking to have his electronics back, but I told him he needed to complete his reading assignment and have a Sunday School class with me first.  He took the assignment seriously and when I asked him what stood out to him the most, he said, “eat what is set before you” and that he didn’t have to be afraid of food.   I had grown up hearing “eat what is set before you,” but had never mentioned it to our kids since it seemed old-fashioned.  It doesn’t seem old-fashioned anymore and I’m so grateful for those words and for the amazing relevancy of the Bible and Science and Health on this topic.  Problems we face today have not changed much throughout the centuries. 

Mrs. Eddy writes, “We should master fear, instead of cultivating it.  It was the ignorance of our forefathers in the departments of knowledge now broadcast in the earth, that made them hardier than our trained physiologists, more honest than our sleek politicians.” (S&H 197:16)

My son is fine.  The problem just vanished after the Sunday School class and he was himself again.

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Another healing with my son took place last year of a painful growth on his finger which had been bothering him for around six months.  I had asked him if he wanted me to call a practitioner and he said that he thought it would go away on its own and that he was fine.  Every morning, he would come down and put a band-aid on it before school and I have to admit, I started wondering how many boxes of band-aids I was going to have to buy.  But then one night around 10 p.m., there was a knock on my door and my son was there humbly showing me his finger, saying that it wasn’t getting better, but rather worse, and would I call a practitioner for him.  I told him that I would, but when I prayed about it, it seemed right that he should play an active part in this healing and that we could pray about it together and have weekly Sunday School classes.  I had been gathering articles and testimonies on this subject, and throughout the week, I would give him things to read.  He was so receptive and I still have this image of him nodding his head and saying, “cool” after he would read about a healing.  The main thing that I worked with was that there wasn’t anything wrong with him, he was already perfect, and this growth was an illusion and was no part of him.  “In Science, you can have no power opposed to God, and the physical senses must give up their false testimony.” (S&H 192:19-21)  Within three weeks of working together, the physical senses did give up its false testimony and the growth dried up and fell off.  His finger was perfect!  This happened on a Sunday morning and when he came down the stairs and showed his finger to his dad, I heard my husband say, “That’s incredible!! Go show mom!”   In all our 30 years together, I have never seen my husband so excited about a healing.  It really made an impression on him and I am very grateful to God and Christian Science for this healing.