Daughter healed of drug use
by Victoria Butler
When I became a student of Christian Science, I was so glad to know about God's constant guidance in everyone's life. A few months after being introduced to Science I took Christian Science class instruction - a short but powerful course on how to pray effectively. The Monday after completing the class, I resigned my position as a private practice psychologist working in the movie industry, as well as my position as CEO of a large nonprofit drug abuse program. I immediately went into the Christian Science practice because I was already receiving calls to help others through prayer.
In Christian Science class instruction I learned the importance of praying for the world, and not just for myself, my family, and the patients who called me. Sometime during those early weeks after class, I heard that there was going to be a television special on cocaine addiction. I didn't think much about it. A few days later there was to be another program on drug addiction. Again, I ignored it. A few days later - yes, another program on drug addiction. This time I "woke up". These back-to-back advertisements alerted me to pray for the world concerning these issues. I did not watch any of thos programs, being very familiar with the subject from my past work experiences, but I spent the next few days praying for the world, specifically regarding drug abuse.
I turned to the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy for inspiration. This book is not just any book. Mrs. Eddy was directed by a higher power, God, divine Love, on what to put in its pages. The ideas in Science and Health are one way that God communicates to us. I have found out through healing experiences that this is true. This citations from page 356 made it clear to me that God wouldn't create a desire for destructive drugs, "Does divine Love commit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin, and then punishing him for it?" I also affirmed man's innocence and freedom from false attractions.
One the third day I felt that I had found peace about this world problem. I remembered sitting in my room and feeling I had covered the topic quite thoroughly in my prayers when my 13-year-old daughter came to me crying her eyes out and asking for my help. She confided in me that she had a drug problem. She was very distressed and felt she was in over her head.
Normally this would be a very disturbing thing for a parent to hear, but I had just spent three days realizing God's power over drug dependencey and addiction, so I felt calm and confident that this would be healed. I actually didn't ask my daughter what drugs she had been using or for how long. I think because I had been working so spiritually about the issue it didn't feel like, in this case, I needed more details. But of course, I felt my daughter's distress and responded compassionately, free from alarm.
I told her I knew this would be healed because we had God's help - a power bigger than us that would guide us in overcoming this. I was able to calm her fears without a lot of talking, and becuase of the prayerful work I had already done, I was able to see my daughter's goodness and innocence. Almost immediately, she calmed down and was completely receptive and cooperative. I could see she was committed to being free, and she told me there were no drugs in the house.
That afternoon as I prayed for my daughter, I turned again to Science and Health for guidance and found this sentence: "Jesus beheld the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals" (p.476-477). I knew that realizing this was a key to my daughter gaining her dominion. I needed to truly understand her as perfect, reflecting God's purity, innocence, and sinlessness.
A vision came to me of my daughter in a prison cell calling out to me and saying: "Mum, don't believe that the (picture of a drug-dependency) is really me! I am good and pure and I am being held hostage. My only way out is for you to believe that the picture is not the real me. Don't try to change me or fix me; that could take forever, instead know that the troubled person is an 'imposter' posing as me". It actually made sense to me as I thought about what it says in the Bible; it doesn't say "fix the problem and the person and you will be free," it says, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). So I continued to know the truth about my daughter - that this material picture was not the individual of God's creating.
Well, this vision lit a fire for "justice" in me, as it would for anyone - seeing an innocent person unjustly imprisoned. My initial prayers of mild pleading with God turned to vehement protests insisting on my daughter's God-given right to be free. Guess what? My prayers began to work immediately. Her behaviour changed radically. Right after asking for my help and my prayers she was more relaxed and loving, instead of tense and rebellious. In a period of a few days she looked healthier and happier. It was obvious to both of us that the problem wasn't any part of my daughter and never truly had been. She was free of the desire for drugs.
I realized that before this turnaround, my daughter had been avoiding me and acting guilt-ridden, but with the healing she willingly chose to spend time with me at home and naturally stopped hanging out with the kids she had done drugs with. However, she needed some new friends. I took her to a teen support group where she met kids who didn't use drugs, and they became her friends. She became involved in organizing a teen center where teens could socialize in a safe, drug-free environment. Everything about my daughter's character changed. Undesirable traits of selfishness, anger, and definace stopped practically overnight. She even dressed and decorated her bedroom differently, in ways that reflected the exuberance and joy of divine Soul. Only two weeks after telling me about the drug problem, my daughter's transformation was so complete that a person who she used to do drugs with didn't even recognize her when they had a conversation at the bus stop. I am grateful for the ease of this healing, especially because before being a student of Christian Science I had worked for years under beliefs about drug dependency being a lifelong problem that was very difficult to resolve.
My daughter is now an adult with a 17-year-old of her own, and has lived a healthy drug-free lifestyle ever since, thanks to God's merciful love. I am also particularly grateful to God for preparing me to meet this challenge.
Victoria Butler still helps people through prayer in Los Angeles, and she is especially grateful for the spirit of Christian fellowship she's experienced in the Christian Science community.
This article is from the Christian Science Sentinel, Sept.10, 2012
www.jsh.com
by Victoria Butler
When I became a student of Christian Science, I was so glad to know about God's constant guidance in everyone's life. A few months after being introduced to Science I took Christian Science class instruction - a short but powerful course on how to pray effectively. The Monday after completing the class, I resigned my position as a private practice psychologist working in the movie industry, as well as my position as CEO of a large nonprofit drug abuse program. I immediately went into the Christian Science practice because I was already receiving calls to help others through prayer.
In Christian Science class instruction I learned the importance of praying for the world, and not just for myself, my family, and the patients who called me. Sometime during those early weeks after class, I heard that there was going to be a television special on cocaine addiction. I didn't think much about it. A few days later there was to be another program on drug addiction. Again, I ignored it. A few days later - yes, another program on drug addiction. This time I "woke up". These back-to-back advertisements alerted me to pray for the world concerning these issues. I did not watch any of thos programs, being very familiar with the subject from my past work experiences, but I spent the next few days praying for the world, specifically regarding drug abuse.
I turned to the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy for inspiration. This book is not just any book. Mrs. Eddy was directed by a higher power, God, divine Love, on what to put in its pages. The ideas in Science and Health are one way that God communicates to us. I have found out through healing experiences that this is true. This citations from page 356 made it clear to me that God wouldn't create a desire for destructive drugs, "Does divine Love commit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin, and then punishing him for it?" I also affirmed man's innocence and freedom from false attractions.
One the third day I felt that I had found peace about this world problem. I remembered sitting in my room and feeling I had covered the topic quite thoroughly in my prayers when my 13-year-old daughter came to me crying her eyes out and asking for my help. She confided in me that she had a drug problem. She was very distressed and felt she was in over her head.
Normally this would be a very disturbing thing for a parent to hear, but I had just spent three days realizing God's power over drug dependencey and addiction, so I felt calm and confident that this would be healed. I actually didn't ask my daughter what drugs she had been using or for how long. I think because I had been working so spiritually about the issue it didn't feel like, in this case, I needed more details. But of course, I felt my daughter's distress and responded compassionately, free from alarm.
I told her I knew this would be healed because we had God's help - a power bigger than us that would guide us in overcoming this. I was able to calm her fears without a lot of talking, and becuase of the prayerful work I had already done, I was able to see my daughter's goodness and innocence. Almost immediately, she calmed down and was completely receptive and cooperative. I could see she was committed to being free, and she told me there were no drugs in the house.
That afternoon as I prayed for my daughter, I turned again to Science and Health for guidance and found this sentence: "Jesus beheld the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals" (p.476-477). I knew that realizing this was a key to my daughter gaining her dominion. I needed to truly understand her as perfect, reflecting God's purity, innocence, and sinlessness.
A vision came to me of my daughter in a prison cell calling out to me and saying: "Mum, don't believe that the (picture of a drug-dependency) is really me! I am good and pure and I am being held hostage. My only way out is for you to believe that the picture is not the real me. Don't try to change me or fix me; that could take forever, instead know that the troubled person is an 'imposter' posing as me". It actually made sense to me as I thought about what it says in the Bible; it doesn't say "fix the problem and the person and you will be free," it says, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). So I continued to know the truth about my daughter - that this material picture was not the individual of God's creating.
Well, this vision lit a fire for "justice" in me, as it would for anyone - seeing an innocent person unjustly imprisoned. My initial prayers of mild pleading with God turned to vehement protests insisting on my daughter's God-given right to be free. Guess what? My prayers began to work immediately. Her behaviour changed radically. Right after asking for my help and my prayers she was more relaxed and loving, instead of tense and rebellious. In a period of a few days she looked healthier and happier. It was obvious to both of us that the problem wasn't any part of my daughter and never truly had been. She was free of the desire for drugs.
I realized that before this turnaround, my daughter had been avoiding me and acting guilt-ridden, but with the healing she willingly chose to spend time with me at home and naturally stopped hanging out with the kids she had done drugs with. However, she needed some new friends. I took her to a teen support group where she met kids who didn't use drugs, and they became her friends. She became involved in organizing a teen center where teens could socialize in a safe, drug-free environment. Everything about my daughter's character changed. Undesirable traits of selfishness, anger, and definace stopped practically overnight. She even dressed and decorated her bedroom differently, in ways that reflected the exuberance and joy of divine Soul. Only two weeks after telling me about the drug problem, my daughter's transformation was so complete that a person who she used to do drugs with didn't even recognize her when they had a conversation at the bus stop. I am grateful for the ease of this healing, especially because before being a student of Christian Science I had worked for years under beliefs about drug dependency being a lifelong problem that was very difficult to resolve.
My daughter is now an adult with a 17-year-old of her own, and has lived a healthy drug-free lifestyle ever since, thanks to God's merciful love. I am also particularly grateful to God for preparing me to meet this challenge.
Victoria Butler still helps people through prayer in Los Angeles, and she is especially grateful for the spirit of Christian fellowship she's experienced in the Christian Science community.
This article is from the Christian Science Sentinel, Sept.10, 2012
www.jsh.com
