Healing Faith

The following is the story of Sheri's mom, Jeannie, and her journey from pain to freedom. It's a story of faith, prayer and healing that is an inspiration to us all. Her story and Don Griffith's follow up were originally printed in the Christian Science Journal:

Painful condition—healed
Jeannie Dickson
Reprinted from the August 2007 issue of The Christian Science Journal.

Several years ago, I was suffering with unexplained muscle weakness and pain in my legs, arms, and hands. In October 2004, there were times I had to drag my feet to walk and could only hold my hands above my head for a few seconds. The pain came at night.

Besides going to my primary-care doctor, I went to two rheumatologists, two neurologists, and an orthopedic surgeon. I was taking four different medicines—one to sleep, another for pain, a third for chemical imbalance, and a fourth for muscle spasms. After every test possible, even for Lyme disease, one of the doctors offered me a handicapped parking sticker and said he wanted to see me every three months for testing to see if anything showed up that they could treat.

The doctors were treating the symptoms and trying to keep me comfortable. They were all kind and doing all they could to help me. They voiced their ideas of what might be wrong with me, and the prognosis wasn’t good. I refused the handicapped parking sticker and left the office.

All my life I knew sickness and disease were not of God. I also knew He could and would heal me, but it hadn’t happened yet. I knew that day I had to go to my uncle, who is a Christian Science practitioner. His faith is stronger than anybody’s I have ever known. All his life he has relied on God for good health for himself and for that of his family. They never went to doctors, because they were healed through prayer.

All day Friday and Saturday we read from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. I had many questions and my uncle had the answers. This kind of praying wasn’t what I was used to, yet I felt so uplifted by what I was learning about who I am as a child of God.

Sunday morning as I slipped out of a very high feather bed and my feet touched the floor, I knew I was healed! I hurried out to the family room where my aunt was reading. I spun around with my arms extended. “I feel wonderful!” I said. “Look at me,” as I walked perfectly normally around the room. My aunt replied, “I’m not surprised; your uncle has been upstairs since 3:00 this morning praying for you!” I cried tears of joy.

I am no longer the person I was before my healing. I look at myself differently now and at God differently. I have a desire to know more about my spiritual identity and to develop an even closer relationship with Him. I know Christian Science has taken me to this next level.

God healed me completely and permanently. I praise Him for His faithfulness and love.

Jeannie Dickson

Jeannie’s faith was a key factor in this healing. She knew that God loved her and could heal her. But the material, sensory evidence seemed so real, and this together with medical diagnoses indicated that there was a problem. Eventually, she gave in to the testimony of so many thinking that she was struggling with a disease. Even those who wanted her to be well aided this conclusion.

In spite of her active participation in her faith (which combines medical science with the hope that God can heal through material means), she grew progressively worse. Her spiritual intuition, however, told her that prayer-based healing could happen if she only found out how such healing worked. She was led—by her persistent faith in God—to turn to Christian Science to learn more about Him.

During the time that we spent discussing the Bible and Science and Health, she would say now and then, “This is different from the way I have been taught, but it makes such sense. I love it!”

As a student of Christian Science, I have gained the understanding that sin, sickness, and death are unreal—false beliefs about reality as God knows, creates, and maintains it. This was the basis of my prayer. Simply put, God, good, is All. All is good. Therefore, I prayed to see that there was no room for anything unlike God in His universe of reality.

But because beliefs about the reality of disease sometimes appear to resist the truth about God and man, it requires examining every thought to determine whether it is a lie or the truth. By refusing each lie and holding fast to each truth, I have been able to fulfill Jesus’ promise, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Jeannie’s rapid recovery from something that seemed so intractable showed both of us the power of God’s continuous presence and confirmed the accuracy of Jesus’ statement “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Don Griffith, Christian Science practitioner