Hello friends,
A few of you who have been members of Healthy Pages for years will remember that I used to be cabin crew with an international airline (I’m retired from that now, though I do still work – in a Christian Science Reading Room.) The 91st Psalm is such a powerful go-to prayer for Jewish and Christian people, especially in times of trouble and danger. One day, I simply must compile people’s experiences of praying with it, into a book, though so far I haven’t managed to find any experiences other that those of students of Christian Science. I live in hope! Anyway, it’s been coming to me recently that I really ought to share some of my flying (and other) experiences again, to reassure people during these troubling times. I also read of a wonderful healing of a horse recently, very much based on praying with the 91st Psalm, which I’d love to share, so here goes:
I was working in the back galley one day, flying to Milan (which meant we had to fly over the Alps) in a Boeing 757. The other two crew members I was working with at the rear of the aircraft, had left the galley with the duty free trolley and were right up in the front, so I was alone when the seat belt sign came on. I had a call from the Cabin Service Director to say that other aircraft ahead had warned of severe turbulence and that I was to stow everything and strap myself in on the Captain’s orders.
As usual, I turned immediately to God, infinite divine Love, and put us all in HisHer care while I was securing the galley and checking the passengers. I thought of those everlasting arms of Love that were all around us: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:” (Deut. 33:27)
At every takeoff, I always used to pray with Hymn 53 of the Christian Science Hymnal, which is based on a hymn by John R Macduff. Here are verses 1 & 3:
Everlasting arms of Love
Are beneath, around, above;
God it is who bears us on,
His the arm we lean upon
From earth's fears and vain alarms
Safe in His encircling arms,
He will keep us all the way,
God, our refuge, strength and stay.
Once I had finished stowing all the equipment and checking that the passengers were all secure, I grabbed my Bible from my cabin bag and strapped myself in, opening it to the 91st Psalm (the Psalm of protection), which begins:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
I had recently been watching a programme about nesting owls and there was a family of long-eared owls, in an open crow’s nest up in Yorkshire. During a storm, the mother sat on top of her chicks, opening her wings and protecting them from the rain and the wind and keeping them warm. I knew from the Psalm that this is what God, our divine parent, was doing for all of us.
Psalm 91 continues:
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Well, I became engrossed in reading it and really praying with those words, knowing that they were true, knowing they had power and that they had been proved countless times. A feeling of indescribable peace came over me and I knew that only divine Love (God) was present, therefore only peace, harmony and safety could be present. I felt at one with God. I forgot all about the expected turbulence – there wasn’t any, it was like a mill pond. After a while, the seat belt signs went off and we returned to our duties…
Later on, in the hotel in Milan, we met in the Captain’s room, before going out to eat. The Captain was standing there, shaking his head and saying over and over, "I can’t understand what happened back there" (how many times have I heard those words!) I asked him what he meant and he explained that all other aircraft, just minutes in front of us, at exactly the same altitude and in exactly the same airspace, were experiencing such severe turbulence that the pilots were unable to read their instruments, yet it was like a mill-pond to us. “Not even a ripple”, he said. He explained that we were flying near an enormous thunderstorm that had the power of about 200 atomic bombs, but we couldn’t go higher as we were already over the Alps, at our maximum height and we couldn’t move further away as we didn’t have enough fuel. He simply could not understand or explain, why we had not been touched.
But where was that destructive "power" when confronted by Truth and Love (God)?
With love and peace,
Judy
Hi Judy
Nice post. I think that putting your CS experiences on paper is a very good idea. You seem to have the ability to describe things in a way that is easily readable.
I may be out of line here but from your experience is there ever a time when praying for a loved one to recover is asking too much.
I have a cat that's approx 17 years old and is failing.
I have tried praying, referring to the 91 psalm and the 139 psalm, as these were the mainstay of a CS practitioner who changed his dogs situation.
I have spoken to 2 local practitioners but they seem to lean towards the spiritual immortality of the cat and almost accepting that the time on earth is limited.
I find this hard to come to terms with. I do not believe that we were made to physically die. It should be our own spiritual choice to release the body not age or disease. Is mortal opinion so strong that it can hinder God's law. I just do not know.
Kind regards
Scommstech
I may be out of line here but from your experience is there ever a time when praying for a loved one to recover is asking too much.
Hi Scomm – oh bless you, why on earth would you be “out of line” asking a very understandable question? But praying for a loved one to recover in Christian Science is not beginning rightly. You see, you’re starting from the premise that disease, ageing, death etc. are real (thus giving power to them) and then trying to reverse that.
Jesus told us that no man can serve two masters. (Matt 6:24) and Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health 372:14 (read the whole paragraph)
“How, then,… can we believe in the reality and power of both Truth and error, Spirit and matter, and hope to succeed with contraries?”
I’m just about to go to the Reading Room, but here is an article that might help.
[url]Moving past the problem to healing[/url]
I’ll get back to you later.
Love and peace,
Judy
I find this hard to come to terms with. I do not believe that we were made to physically die. It should be our own spiritual choice to release the body not age or disease.
I agree with you Scomm and always rejoice when I hear about a person or pet just going to sleep naturally and not waking up after a long and fulfilling life. But the bottom line is that in reality, we were not made physical at all – it only seems that way to our limited mortal senses – in reality, we are immortal and spiritual right here and now! That seems an impossible thing to understand, let alone demonstrate, but Jesus proved it, again and again, when he healed the sick and raised the dead – including his own remarkable resurrection. However, we are certainly not Jesus and can only prove what we understand.
St Paul said that:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (I Cor 15:26) The last, not the first! But every step Spirit-ward is progress towards that.
These also may be helpful:
[url]Science and Health 329:7-20[/url]
[url]Science and Health 485:14-19[/url]
Is mortal opinion so strong that it can hinder God's law. I just do not know.
Yes, it would seem so – there are many factors. One is the thoughts that surround the patient. There is a very good reason that Jesus put out all the mourners when he went to raise Jairus’ daughter from her deathbed. Those same mourners, who, “laughed him to scorn” when he told them the girl was not dead, but sleeping. (Mark 5:40) And Peter followed his example when he raised Dorcas from the dead. (Acts 9:36-42)
"In medical practice objections would be raised if one doctor should administer a drug to counteract the working of a remedy prescribed by another doctor. It is equally important in metaphysical practice that the minds which surround your patient should not act against your influence by continually expressing such opinions as may alarm or discourage,?—?either by giving antagonistic advice or through unspoken thoughts resting on your patient. While it is certain that the divine Mind can remove any obstacle, still you need the ear of your auditor. It is not more difficult to make yourself heard mentally while others are thinking about your patients or conversing with them, if you understand Christian Science?—?the oneness and the allness of divine Love; but it is well to be alone with God and the sick when treating disease. "(Science and Health 424:12)
This below is a link to quite a deep interview with a teacher of Christian Science – available either to read, or in audio - and this quote was how she discovered what was obstructing her healing of cracked ribs after a fall from a horse:
“The universal belief in physics weighs against the high and mighty truths of Christian metaphysics…the percentage of power on the side of this Science must mightily outweigh the power of popular belief in order to heal a single case of disease.” Science and Health 155
[url]Getting it right[/url]
I’ll continue tomorrow.
Now Scomm, before you beat yourself up over your cat, let me share three of my experiences. Our beloved dog died, despite my earnest prayers. Looking back, I feel it was my attachment to him. Also, my dear husband said that if our pet was healed, he would take up the study of Christian Science too (no pressure then). So, he would pray with me and then go and inspect the dog – it just doesn’t work like that. It’s turning right away from what our material senses are telling us, to listening to what God is telling us of HisHer image and likeness – spiritual, whole, perfect. It's not about fixing matter.
Two of the most astounding (and yet completely natural) healings I've known happened when it was so clear that it was absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with me. That really is key. I was simply witnessing to the Truth that was already there before the lie had come up about it – the Truth that Jesus told us would set us free. (John 8:32) The most important thing here is that in both of the healings below, I knew nothing about the symptoms, so I wasn’t trying to fix matter. In the 91st Psalm aircraft experience that I began this thread with, I never looked out of the window. I was just immersed in all those wonderful promises from the Psalm. Had I seen the thunderstorm and the lightning, I am quite sure that our awesome protection from all that turbulence would not have happened.
The first healing below was one I wrote about here on HP in 2003 and here is the link to it:
[url]Rachel’s healing [/url]
I knew nothing about the problem or the symptoms – in fact, I just assumed it had been a headache or something like that. I had no idea what a significant healing she’d had and because it came so naturally, it didn’t even occur to her either what had happened, until a few months later, when she was on holiday and finally wrote and told me about it.
More later…