Lizzie - Reprinted from the Christian Science Sentinel, May 21, 2007.
One afternoon a year ago, during an athletic class in school, my best friend Sophie and I were running around the track. Sophie told me that she had a really bad headache. She knew that I was a Christian Scientist and that I prayed to find healing when I had problems. We’d talked together before about some healings I’d had when I was younger.
Since Sophie had no medicine with her, she asked me—kind of half-jokingly at first—if I could pray for her. I said that I would, and started to pray silently. But she really wanted to know what I was thinking about, and asked me to speak aloud.
Immediately, I remembered a few ideas I’d learned about in the Christian Science Sunday School. In my Sunday School class, we often talked about how we are always in the presence of an all-good God who takes care of us and keeps us safe and well. Mary Baker Eddy said in Science and Health,
Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness, error, Truth’s opposite, has no might (p. 367)
Truth is a name for God. I shared with her that the pain she was feeling was an “error,” a mistake about her true identity as God’s reflection. She didn’t have to accept the pain, because it wasn’t from God.
Just before we finished the run, Sophie began to slow down and happily told me that she was feeling perfectly fine. I realized that this was my first experience where I’d prayed for a friend who’d asked for help.
Later on in the same athletic class, I fell as I was jumping over a hurdle and landed on my knee. I limped off the track and sat down to rest. When I applied pressure to my leg, there was sharp pain, and I looked down to see that it was swelling up. It wasn’t a pretty picture!
My teacher told me to go to the school nurse. Since it was a real struggle for me to get up and walk, Sophie helped me walk toward the nurse’s office. She remembered what I’d shared with her earlier, and she kept on repeating to me, “It’s just an error.” At first, this phrase really didn’t help me because I was so focused on just getting inside and sitting down. In fact, I actually felt a little bit annoyed! I just couldn’t seem to see the situation in a spiritual way at all. I just wanted to feel comfortable.
When I finally got to the nurse, Sophie left, and I called up my mum to pick me up. Mum told me that God was right there with me in the nurse’s office and said that she was coming right away and was going to be there in about half an hour.
When I hung up, I knew I had some quiet time to get my thoughts together. It seemed like such a shame that Sophie had had this great healing and now here I was, not able to play sports that afternoon because of the pain I was feeling in my leg. As I listened for God’s thoughts, I realized that the phrase Sophie had been repeating to me—”It’s just an error”—was actually God speaking directly to me. I just hadn’t been paying attention. If I had helped Sophie with this same idea earlier, it had to be true for me, too. I felt grateful for her friendship and that she cared enough to help. I stopped looking at my knee and began to concentrate on God’s loving care for me.
When my mum came to pick me up, I was fearful for just a split second about whether or not I would be able to stand up. But I stuck with my prayers, and I was able to stand up confidently without any trouble or pain. All the swelling in my leg had gone away.
When Sophie spoke to me at school the next day, she didn’t seem surprised at all that I was walking around without any trace of pain. Even though I attend a different school now, we’re still really good friends. I’m so glad that I shared those spiritual ideas with Sophie, and that she helped me in return!
Lizzie enjoys playing soccer and basketball.