Cat’s health restored

One December, when I was serving as First Reader in my local branch Church of Christ, Scientist, I decided to incorporate Christmas-related hymns, Bible passages, and citations from Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures into the Wednesday testimony meetings throughout the month.

A few weeks into this rewarding effort, a difficult situation arose in my family. Our much-loved cat, who routinely went outside after dinner for a short time, hadn’t returned by bedtime, which was unusual. I was certain he would be on the back porch when we woke up the next morning, but he wasn’t. I knew that wherever he was, God’s care was with him, and I affirmed that all was well. However, when he still hadn’t appeared by that night, my heart sank.

Shortly after heading to bed, my husband and I heard a cry from the porch area and discovered that the cat was underneath the porch, unable to come out on his own. My husband retrieved him; the cat was immobile and appeared to have lost control of his bodily functions.

For several days, I prayed for the cat and said spiritual truths out loud to our pet as I spent time with him. I also wrote out Bible verses and passages from Science and Health for my two older children to put in their pockets and read when they thought of our cat during the day. However, the cat wasn’t eating or drinking, and the situation still looked disturbing.

On Wednesday, with my readings all complete for that evening’s testimony meeting, I had a strong impulsion to unmark my Bible and Science and Health and just listen. I had been happy with the readings I had prepared, but I was obedient to this intuition and erased the citations.

What came to me was that I needed to address the “Herod thought,” that element of thought and reasoning that hates the Christ so much that it feels there is no option but to try to destroy it. I don’t remember what the exact readings ended up being, but I do remember that the spiritual counter facts were clear and thorough in addressing and reversing the thought of hatred of the Christ.

As we read in Science and Health: “Truth has no consciousness of error. Love has no sense of hatred. Life has no partnership with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God” (p. 243).

When I returned home after the service, my first thought was, “All right—now back to praying about the cat’s problem.” But then the idea came to me that this prayerful work was done and all was well. I accepted that wholeheartedly. Within a few days the cat, who began drinking if something was put under his chin, also began to eat. By that same afternoon he was completely restored to health.

It was some time later when I realized that the power of the truth of those readings had destroyed the “Herod thought,” the poison of hatred. There simply was no power or presence that could oppose God, and a clearer understanding of this had revealed the permanency of God’s ever-presence and the ever-active Christ—with beautiful healing results.

Janet Wenrick
Stow, Ohio, US