How Do You Safeguard Health, Peace, and Normalcy?
by Ginny Nilsen
A guest post written for Christian Science in Southern California "Spiritual Perspectives"
August 2016
Have you ever had a pivotal moment in your life that you can really look back on and hold onto when the going gets tough? I do. One moment I was going along just fine and then suddenly I became very sick. What's interesting is that I didn't focus on how I had gotten so sick so quickly, but, "I can't feel like this, I've got two preschool girls to be healthy and available for. I need to feel well."
While my husband insisted that I go and lie down for a while, I found myself arguing that I just couldn't do that. As he kept insisting, I finally gave in and went to the bedroom. Lying on the bed, I opened my thought to listening for inspirational messages from God about truth, love, and wholeness. The first message that I "heard" was that Jesus prayed for all mankind, "Father, that they may be one as you and I are one." I realized that Jesus' prayer for mankind also included me. "Wow, Jesus actually prayed for me!" I thought. And, I felt it too. I also remembered the quote from the Bible, "The struggle is not yours, but the Lord's." While embracing these inspiring ideas, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was completely well and refreshed – I felt like I had slept for several hours. I happily went downstairs to rejoin the family and was amazed when I saw on the clock that I had only been in the bedroom for about 25 minutes!
"What cannot God do?" So asks Mary Baker Eddy, Christian healer and the author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Eddy's chapter on prayer in Science and Health teaches that Christ's healing power is universal and applicable throughout all time and space. To me that means that God's love and care for each and every one of us is unconditional and presently safeguarding health, peace, and normalcy. And so in turn I ask, what cannot prayer do – when I listen for God's truth and love?