Trust me, prayer works!

Kindahl Jackson - Christian Science Sentinel, September 18, 2006

To expect progress in everything you do is really important to me. Sometimes it’s so easy to think you’re stuck in a relationship problem, with a class at school, or with your performance in a sport. But I’ve found that with God, you can only-and always-go forward.

I’m a huge multitasker, and like most of my friends I have a very busy schedule, but the daily time I set aside for prayer-even if it’s just five or ten minutes-is absolutely vital to me. Since I was raised in Christian Science, turning to prayer for solutions to all sorts of challenges has become a natural response for me. And I’ve had a few experiences that have especially inspired me and made me even more dedicated to studying this Science.

For instance, about four years ago I severely injured my ankle while I was doing karate. I had been studying karate since I was eight, and I was really into it-in fact, I was just a few days away from taking my red belt test, which is the belt earned just before the black belt (the highest belt you can achieve). I’d set myself up to jump in the air and kick a bag, but instead I landed on my ankle and heard a loud crack. As I lay on the floor, devastated and in pain, one of the instructors came over to examine my foot. His other job happened to be in a hospital as a nurse, so after examining my foot, he feared I’d broken my ankle.

My mom picked me up, and I managed to hobble to the car with her assistance. Within a half hour, my foot was so swollen that I couldn’t walk or put any weight on it at all. Even so, there was absolutely no question that I wanted to rely on Christian Science for a complete healing of the injury.

I settled in on the couch and began to pray with the support of my entire family. One of the first ideas that came to mind was that the divine Mind knows no accidents. Mary Baker Eddy wrote about this in Science and Health: “Under divine Providence there can be no accidents, since there is no room for imperfection in perfection” (p. 424). This was a reminder to me that I was as perfect as God had made me to be-and that my perfection was changeless. I also prayed with this favorite passage from Science and Health: “Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God. It shows the superiority of faith by works over faith in words” (pp. 209-210). I saw this as a perfect opportunity to prove the laws of Christian Science-to see prayer work, as it had in the past.

I remember sitting on the couch and reading through the Weekly Bible Lesson a couple of times that evening. The next day, I again found myself on the couch, pretty much inactive, but still praying. Although I had been determined to make it to my belt test in a few days, I committed myself to putting aside what I thought should happen and instead relying on God to get my peace and follow through on the ideas He gave me. Although my foot was still quite swollen and tender, I found that as I prayed, my thoughts lifted, and I went from feeling tied down and mentally drained to increasingly inspired and confident.

Then at one point, as I was talking to one of my sisters, I decided to get something from the kitchen. I got up and suddenly found myself walking, unaided. I hardly realized what I’d just done -it seemed completely natural. The healing had happened so fast that one moment I couldn’t wear normal shoes or even walk without crutches, and the next minute my foot was completely normal. I was so overjoyed-and I knew, without a doubt, that this was a permanent healing.

I did go on to earn my red belt in karate. But I was mostly excited about telling my Sunday School class about my healing. I felt I’d really moved up in my understanding of Christian Science in that short period of time-just one day after the injury. This Science really works -and fast!

That’s not to say things always work out as quickly as I’d like them to. In fact, I’ve really had to work on being patient and letting go of my “plan” for my life. I guess you could say I tend to be a huge planner and analyzer, which can get in the way when I’m praying to see God’s view of things.

For example, a few winters back, I was separated from my family for nearly five hours while we were skiing in Taos, New Mexico. We had planned to meet up at a certain slope, but for some reason, I never found them. It was getting to be nightfall, and it was cold and blustery. I went down this one ski run over and over, looking for my family, but each time it was just me and a few other scattered skiers. The slopes were about to close for the evening, and I was feeling impatient and scared about all the variables that can come into play when you’re skiing on a stormy mountain.

At one point, I fell down on a rock, which stopped me from my repeated runs down the slope. I wasn’t hurt, just annoyed. I remember finally thinking about this line from a favorite poem of mine by Mary Baker Eddy: “Shepherd, show me how to go / O’er the hillside steep” (Poems, p. 14). This line seemed so appropriate to my situation, and it kind of just warmed me up inside. It helped me to focus on God-my Shepherd-and His unfailing protection, rather than on my fear and frustration. After spending a few moments getting really quiet and feeling peaceful again, it came to me to get up and ski the run one last time. At the bottom, my entire family was there waiting for me-not just one of them but all of them. It was such a simple solution, but I was completely overjoyed.

Christian Science has been really meaningful to me because I’ve seen firsthand how it works-and I’ve found that nothing else works quite like it. I’m even more grateful now that I’ve started college. (My schedule hasn’t exactly gotten lighter!) As I quietly pray each day, I like to remind myself that nothing can disrupt my peace, because God is totally in charge. He has the reins, and He’s the one I can rely on no matter what. When I’m totally sure about that fact, the worry-fear factor just isn’t an issue. Trust me-it works.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 27th, 2006 at 1:17 am and is filed under Relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.