In the winter of 2010 there was a lot of hype about difficult travel conditions due to the weather. The media seemed to be in their element and were constantly pouring out every limiting belief known to man! I have had my challenges in dealing with this.
In the first weeks of January we had a heavy snow fall and I had to travel home following night duty. When I eventually arrived at the top of the hill that leads to my road, I was confronted with what appeared to be a sheet of glass for a quarter of a mile. I quickly pulled my car into the first parking space I could find at the top of the hill and decided to walk down to my house.
Realising that I had not parked in a particularly sensible space, I decided to bring my car nearer to home with a neighbour to guide me. I did manage to find a better space (my friend refused to get in the car with me but was happy to watch this manoeuvre from a safe distance!) When I got out of the car I slipped on the ice and smashed my knee on the kerb, the knee took the full blow of my body weight. My friend helped me to get up and she supported me to get me home. I could barely stand, let alone walk.
I lay on my sofa encompassed by the sense of pain and repeating the Scientific Statement of Being* as I knew i should, but the words “I’m in such pain” came over and over again. I pulled myself up quickly and realised what I was doing! I had become quite mesmerised by what had happened. I kept ‘hearing’ all sorts of suggestions that something was broken, and I did seem to feel a strange squelching sensation in my knee.
I had recently read a couple of articles about using the Lord’s name in vain. ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.’ (Ex.20:7) Often people interpret this as meaning not to blaspheme or use foul language, but what it also means is the misuse of God’s law. If we swop the word Lord for Law, as some scholars believe we should, then the true meaning of this command makes so much more sense.
I had initially been repeating over and over again “I am in such pain”, I now insisted that I was not in pain because in ‘Him I live and move and have my being’, it was not a case of in ‘pain I live and move and have my being.’ I had used the Law’s name in vain, because we are told, “I Am that I Am”. that means that Love and harmony are present and nothing else. Often we find ourselves saying, “I am so worried, poor, frightened, hopeless etc.” These concerns are in complete opposition to His Law.
I kept repeating this True statement instead of the original one, and I telephoned a Practitioner** for help in this. She reminded me that as God’s idea I couldn’t be subject to pain or accident, and she agreed to pray with me.
As part of my understanding of the situation, and the world belief of accident and limitation due to weather conditions, I found the following statements very helpful: Our leader (Mary Baker Eddy) states ‘Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so full of Truth and Love that sin, disease and death cannot enter them.’ She also adds ‘Good thoughts are an impervious armour, clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited.’
We don’t have to accept the so-called law of accident, lack, limitation which come pouring out of our television screens, newspapers and mouths. We can agree with the Psalmist that we are safe from the ‘terror of night’ and ‘the arrow that flieth by day.’
I worked prayerfully the following day, the human picture still looked quite grim and my friend wanted me to have an x ray. However, I had determined to not take the Lord’s name in vain and give into the material evidence . . . The next day I was back at work, on my feet all day for a busy shift!
I am very grateful for this healing, the help from a practitioner and my deepening understanding of Divine Law.
Elinor
Maidstone Church Member
*The Scientific Statement of Being can be found on page 468 of Mrs Eddy’s work Science and Health with key to the Scriptures. It reads:
There is no life, truth, intelligence or substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and it’s infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.
**A Christian Science Practitioner is someone who provides spiritual treatment through prayer that results in healing.