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An effective approach to healing injuries

A Christian Science perspective: Yielding to God’s comforting, transforming presence and love is powerful, healing prayer.

  • By Mark Swinney

Injuries can be frustrating when all you want to do is get back out there and be active again. I have experienced a few injuries, yet I’ve always been grateful to be able to get back to my normal routine quickly through a spiritual approach to healing, an approach that time and again has proved effective.

For example, I once injured a muscle in my calf. I wasn’t able to walk more than just a few feet and was aware that this kind of injury could put me out of commission for many weeks.

In such times of trouble I’ve found that holding to an inspired spiritual idea of God as infinite good, and deeply loving and understanding that, can be solid ground for progress and healing. More than just a mental exercise or positive thinking, this was about getting a better understanding of what the inspired Word of the Bible reveals regarding our relation to God.

I found it very encouraging to hold to the truth of God’s enduring goodness, which is permanently expressed in everything God creates. This divine goodness encompasses everyone. Not that we are material beings somehow infused with spiritual goodness, but that our true identity is actually spiritual – the self-expression of God’s endless goodness. Injury isn’t part of that goodness.

Seeing this, I realized, was an answer to prayer. I saw that my need was to be grateful for this divine goodness and to hold my thought in constant awareness of it as I went about my everyday tasks. Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy puts it this way: “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 261). Holding thought to good that way felt like the easy way a child holds the hand of a trusted friend.

It was effective, too, because within 48 hours, I found myself completely healed and able to get back to fully normal activity.

Anyone can experience the effective prayer of mentally acknowledging God’s pure goodness. We can hold to this trust in God no matter how busy we may be, or how many tasks in a day we may be required to do. Doing this is not just an interesting mental exercise; it’s a yielding to God’s comforting, transforming presence, and healing power – and experiencing it. I love how the Bible puts it: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee” (Isaiah 26:3).

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