Reflections on pain and prayer

Editor’s note: As part of our special Wellness issues, Xpress asked readers how prayer or intention has helped them make it through periods of great physical pain. Here are those responses, among them contributions from Christian Scientists, who believe in the healing power of God and avoid conventional medical treatment:

God’s comforting care

A song this week included the line “And he wrapped them up in the arms of God’s love and he showed them they were whole.”

Recognizing this as a part of contemplative prayer brings fruition to Jesus’ words, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

When experiencing physical pain, I turn to God fully through prayer, affirming the presence of that kingdom of love and the power of something greater than my ego or pain. Pain does much to distract us, but prayer that focuses on God’s comforting care enables me to overcome pain. It helps me recognize the allness of God, divine love, that enabled the biblical author to reveal that “there shall be no more pain.”

— Robbie Sweetser
Asheville

Focusing my prayer on God

One evening as I was just sitting, my ankle began to hurt. Later that night, walking was difficult. As a student of Christian Science, I have learned to focus my prayer on God. As the Bible says, God created man (male and female) in his own image and likeness.

I prayed to better understand that God could not be in pain, therefore as his image and likeness always embraced in his presence, I could not either. I went to bed with a calm, comforting trust in these ideas, and I slept peacefully. The next day, all pain was gone.

— Katie Osborn
Asheville

Feeling a deep sense of peace

A few years ago, I noticed some pain and a small growth on one of my breasts. I was afraid, but I knew from my experience practicing Christian Science that God could heal me. Through studying the Bible, I have learned that God’s power isn’t limited to some unreachable spiritual realm but is a concrete presence in my life here and now.

I awoke one night and noticed that the fear and pain were increasing in direct proportion. Like a switch, the pain turned off immediately, and I felt a deep sense of peace and the presence of God. Soon I noticed that the lump had also disappeared. The healing has been permanent.

— Beth Johnson
Asheville

God had other plans for itching relief

For decades I have had an issue with itching. It started around 1987, when I began waking up in the morning with scratched-up arms, which sometimes bled. It escalated over time, and by 1990, while seeing a gastroenterologist for an unrelated reason, he took note of my arms, which by then looked like ground meat. (I had been wearing long sleeves to hide the ugliness.)

He did bloodwork, which indicated I had what was referred to at the time as primary biliary cirrhosis, an autoimmune disease of the liver. (Currently, the disease is referred to as primary biliary cholangitis to alleviate the illusion of this disease being related to alcoholism.) This led to me having a liver transplant at Mayo Clinic in Florida in 2007. I was told that my itching issue was due to liver failure and that the transplant would relieve me of this issue. Unfortunately, although it took care of the disease, the chronic itching never ended.

For decades, I have seen dermatologists who have prescribed creams and moisturizers, but the itching and skin damage have only escalated. Ice packs became my homemade method of relief. Since the itching was the worst at night, I spent many sleepless nights sitting up with ice packs being moved around to different itchy spots. (I read many books while doing this over the years.)

Prayer was always part of my method of handling this problem, but apparently God had other plans for me. Over the years, I’ve developed my own personal relaxation method to fall asleep before itching starts, but most recently it has been my chiropractor who has helped me. Reema Arsheed at Whole Body Chiropractic recommended a natural supplement, which has worked like nothing else I have ever tried in healing me. I take it daily and I am no longer itching as much at night. In February I will be going for my yearly checkup at Mayo Clinic, and I will be sharing this information with my doctor there. Thank you, Dr. Reema!

— Joan Calder
Marion