It was Christmas Eve. My dad was meeting my sisters and me at the airport. He had treated us to airline tickets so we could fly home from three different locations in the United States. Dad greeted me by saying that after my sisters landed, we would be going to the hospital to see Grandmother, who had suddenly become totally paralyzed and was unable to speak.

While Dad left to meet the arriving flights of my sisters, I looked for a pay phone. A friend who had given me copies of the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, had also given me the phone number of a Christian Science practitioner I could call for healing prayer. I was shocked at the news about my grandmother, and as a new student of Christian Science, I wanted to reach out to this practitioner for that spiritual help. I asked him to pray for me so I would not cry when I saw my grandmother and add worries to her. I knew his prayerful treatment would help lift me out of fear and sadness while helping me feel embraced in the love of God. 

Upon arriving at the hospital, we were greeted by a nurse, who directed us to the waiting room. She said Grandmother was lying facedown, and they were going to try to move her and give her a drink of water. 

While we waited, I stepped over to a curtain wall and quietly “talked” with God. I said something like this: “My grandmother is a Christian Scientist, and she has always loved You, God. She knows You as Love. Dear God, please give me just an inkling of her understanding of Love.” 

The nurse appeared and welcomed us to enter the room. My sisters and dad went in first. As I stood in the doorway, I experienced something of the Christ referred to in Revelation 3:8 in the Bible: “Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” My fears were replaced by the ever-presence and power of Christ’s love. I suddenly felt the warmth and animation of a great light. This powerful and loving light filled my thought with a bright, peaceful glory. I wondered if others saw it, but I said nothing. Then my grandmother spoke, saying, “Children, God’s blessings!” 

The vision of spiritual light lifted, and I saw Dad at the foot of the bed standing in awe as he heard Grandmother speak. Although my dad had never been interested in Christian Science, he was clearly moved in that moment. He asked us to leave the room and not talk of it. Dad took us out to dinner and then home for a wonderful evening just being together, enjoying Christmas Eve.

We were awakened early on Christmas morning by a phone call from the hospital. The doctor, a friend of my dad’s, was calling to report on Grandmother’s condition. The doctor said that when he went into her hospital room early that morning, he was surprised to find her bed empty. She was walking around looking for her house slippers! We were amazed and overjoyed. She was released from the hospital a day or two later, and that was the end of the paralysis.

I called the Christian Science practitioner to tell him what had happened. I asked him how he did it. He humbly replied that he did not do it. I shared with him that neither did I. Now I know that I had witnessed the light of Christ, the “open door,” which had ushered me into the consciousness and power of divine Love and restored my soul, my spiritual sense (see Science and Health, p. 578). That had resulted in an instantaneous healing in Christian Science. 

Not long after this, I decided to take Christian Science class instruction. When the two-week course was over, I sent Grandmother a dozen roses with my news, which greatly pleased her. I feel that her prayers for me over many years had been the cause of great good in my life and were the reason I was drawn to Christian Science. I have had many healings of my own, including one of injuries, fear, and resentment after being attacked and robbed at a mall (see Sentinel, June 5, 1989). That healing came with an overwhelming sense of love and forgiveness.

I shall forever cherish my grandmother’s healing that Christmas. To me, it exemplifies the final words of the book of Revelation: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. . . . Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (22:20, 21).