Healing Results from Valley Park MO lectures

Fruitage from Two Lectures by Elise Moore
First Church of Christ, Scientist
Valley Park, MO
March, 2010

On Saturday, March 13, Elise gave her lecture on “The Possibilities of Prayer” at a nearby branch of our county library. On Sunday, March 14, she gave the one called “Texting God: Effective Short Prayers” at our church. She also held a workshop on supporting spiritual healing for our members on Friday, March 12. The ideas shared on these occasions continue to bless and heal. This is just a summary of what’s been reported so far.

Two healings related to the lectures occurred even before they even took place. About two weeks before the lectures, a member inadvertently picked up a metal pan she’d just removed from the oven. At first the pain evoked a startled “Oh!” But almost immediately after, she found herself voicing a very firm “NO.” No because she was spiritual through and through and could never be touched by anything that could harm her true substance. For a few moments, she held to this and other thoughts of her true being, loving the thoughts she was entertaining as the consciousness that heals. Then she continued preparing dinner. She didn’t think about the “burn” again until later when, preparing for bed, she couldn’t tell which hand had been involved. She realized that “NO” must be one of those effective short prayers we’d be hearing about. And so it was.

The member who was to introduce Elise at the Sunday lecture wrote: “About a day or so after I agreed to do one of the introductions, I noticed that my throat was beginning to constrict so that increasingly I was barely able to speak above a whisper. I recognized right away that this wasn’t a more general claim of cold or contagion, but a specific argument against my ability to do my part in this lecture. Recognizing the error for what this was, there wasn’t any sense of panic or thought of withdrawing from the task at hand, but patient knowing that all would be well and that nothing could interfere with the blessings to be realized. By Friday, the symptoms had begun to clear. By Sunday there wasn’t a vestige of the claim or any fear of being able to speak normally.”

After the Friday workshop, during which we were listing God-qualities and identifying ourselves and others with them, a member returned home to find her family room floor covered with her husband’s belongings. She realized that she didn’t have to approach this in a judgmental or frustrated way—that she could identify her husband with those God-qualities whatever the outward appearance might be. This has since proved helpful both in discussing issues with her husband and, more importantly, in maintaining her inner peace.

The lectures themselves were seen as a great blessing both by those who already identify themselves as Christian Scientists and by others. Both venues were filled with eager listeners. A member who brought her next door neighbor said that her neighbor is now looking forward to visiting our Reading Room. Another member invited a Mormon friend who commented, “I really enjoyed Elise’s talk on the power of prayer. All of the events for your faith that I have attended have had top notch public speakers—very gifted!” A third member had invited a Jewish friend who loved the Saturday talk and said it had given her a lot to think about and put into practice. This member also attended the Sunday lecture with a Catholic friend who asked her and another member some deep, searching questions on how to view disasters and pray effectively for their victims, and she expressed interest in delving into the copy of Science and Health that she gotten at a lecture some years ago. A woman who was raised Catholic but has been attending a Christian Science church for about a year came all the way from Illinois to hear the Saturday lecture and loved it. A Christian Scientist who brought a friend wrote, “Both my friend and I took away some wonderful reminders of how simple effective prayer really is. And she was happy to see that many of her prayers already fell into the three helpful categories you described.” One of our Sunday school teachers reported that the children really liked hearing about the “machete” and “helicopter” methods of prayer.

Two people filled out visitor cards, requesting further information. One of them was at the library and noticed our sign. She decided to attend the lecture and liked it so well that she came to the one at our church the following day as well. After that lecture she was thrilled to receive her first copy of Science and Health. She has been unemployed, and both lectures included prayer-based resolutions of that problem.

The other enjoyed the Saturday lecture so much that he attended our church with his wife the next day especially to make a donation to our lecture fund. When a lecture committee member emailed him, giving her phone number in case he wanted to ask questions, he called her and asked deep and intelligent questions for over an hour. He had clearly been studying Science and Health with the purpose of being better able to pray for himself and others.

People who weren’t even at the lectures are also being blessed through conversations with those who were. As one of our members commented, “I’ve already shared ideas with two people and will continue to do so. It is such a natural step when you are full of inspiration.” Another member passed along the idea of identifying with God-qualities to her daughter, who’s a member of an evangelical Christian church, and she loved it.

A woman who was at the “Texting God” lecture has a friend who’d been experiencing chronic back pain. Though she was uncertain whether he even believed in God, she spoke to him about the importance of recognizing that God was good and that good was going on in his life. He replied that there was so much bad going on, and she urged him to respond to it with forgiveness. He later told her he’d written an email to someone who was causing him a lot of problems, forgiving the individual and acknowledging their good qualities. By that evening, he realized the back pain was gone. He asked his friend if there was a connection between forgiving and recognizing the good qualities and the improvement in his back. She assured him that there was—that this was evidence that God’s law of good was operating in his life.

One member had shared invitations with several of her friends from the Christian neighborhood group she’s in. Though they couldn’t attend, they were very interested in the message about prayer. She’ll be sharing her notes with nine of them at their April meeting. She sums up so beautifully the long term effect of these lectures when she states, “This is like throwing a pebble into a lake and then watching the concentric circles continue to move out to multiple shores. Let’s start a “Love chain reaction” and watch it grow and bless our community.”

As we do so, there will be still more fruitage to report.