A Breath of Fresh Prayer

Johanna - The Christian Science Journal Feb. 2006

I live in Germany and my friends at school call me “Jojo.” I enjoy horseback riding, playing the guitar, listening to my CDs, and recently I’ve gotten pretty interested in studying the ancient Maya Indians. Someday, I think I’d even like to be a research explorer.

I also like to spend some time each day praying. Usually, I read something from the Bible and Science and Health, or sometimes I just think quietly about God. Since I was little, I’ve had a lot of healings through prayer and learning more about my relationship with God.

When I was about eight years old I would sometimes have the feeling that I wasn’t getting enough air, and I suddenly couldn’t breathe well. I decided to pray about this condition with my mom, who is a Christian Science practitioner. We prayed with the idea that God is Love and His love gives me everything I need every moment—including air!

My mom also pointed out that I could never be separated from God and that any other thought that tried to say I was apart from God and His goodness—we call it Irrtum in German, or error—was false. My mom used to say that I was the “child of joy,” and she prayed with this phrase in Science and Health:

This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death (Science and Health, p. 304)

We prayed for about three months, and I remember feeling very sure that I could and would be healed. And very soon, I was. I don’t even remember when and how—it just wasn’t an issue anymore. My breathing has remained totally normal during the several years since this happened.

So when my friend Petra recently told me she was suddenly having trouble with allergies and asthma—which made it hard for her to breathe sometimes—I felt sure she wouldn’t have to live with this difficulty forever. She’s talked to me a lot about God and her belief in Him, so I thought she would be pretty open to the ideas in Science and Health. I decided to share a copy with her and she’s begun to read it and really use some of the ideas she’s learning. I’ve enjoyed praying with her, too, and now she says her breathing has improved so much. I’ve prayed about many things—from schoolwork to problems with other kids. This one boy at my school used to purposely annoy and bother me. But when I decided to see him as a child of God, loved and loveable, it was much easier for me to like him and not just see him as an annoying kid. Now he doesn’t bother me anymore, and we actually get along.

I’ve shared Science and Health with other friends of mine, too. But I do it because the ideas feel true to me, not just because it’s a part of my religion. And that’s why I love the ideas in Christian Science—they’re for anybody, and they heal.

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