Believe it or not, spirituality and prayer are a source of healing

by John D. Clague, Christian Science Committee on Publication for Oregon

It’s interesting how some ideas come to us naturally.  And other ideas are just plain hard to wrap our thought around.  Our biases usually are the culprit in preventing us from seeing beyond our own point of view.

There seems to be a tendency today to view medical science and spirituality as two distinct worlds that don’t intersect. Yet there are those glimmers of light where people are beginning to make the connection between health and one’s spiritual awareness.

Spirituality and attitude has been recognized by Christian Science as the primary source of one’s health for over 140 years.  For all of my adult life I’ve recognized and practiced this. When I’m faced with a health challenge, I always turn to prayer as a source of inspiration, encouragement, and healing.  I’ve done this time and again resulting in being healed many times of physical, financial, and practical problems. With a healing of the problems I was confronted with came a healing of the human spirit.

It’s encouraging to see examples where others are beginning to understand the relationship between health and spirituality.  Recently, Jeff Brumley wrote a piece in the Florida Times-Union about a “growing number of people … using the power of faith in health care”. He describes the different ways members of the medical profession, and people under their care, are turning to spirituality during challenging times.

This is encouraging.  Mary Baker Eddy presented this science of spiritual healing when her book Science and Health was published in 1875.  Since then, thousands of people seeking relief from health problems have been healed through prayer and an understanding of their ability to bring God-like qualities into their experience.

Brumley doesn’t get that far in his discussion of the growth of spirituality and prayer as part of the healing arts, but he takes a step in the right direction.  And so do all those who pray when healing is needed.