Often when people go in search of prayer, they are experiencing a challenge. A loss or diagnosis, something that can be scary or painful. It’s the practitioners job to know the truth in all situations and pray from a place of knowing. And what happens when a practitioner struggles with a request? Here are their beautiful and inspiring answers.
Tell me about a time when you got a treatment request that was difficult.
I usually have very little difficulty finding the perfection and truth about a situation for someone else. It is easy for me to see an individual’s light in all things because I have no attachment to the outcome. I have no personal history or drama associated with the request, I only see Love. When I do run up against something that is a challenge, I find that it is something in me that needs attention. That is when I have to work on my consciousness FIRST before I can treat for someone else. My house needs to be clear before I can help others. ~ Reverend Arpad Petress
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Someone came to me in great pain because her daughter was going through a huge health challenge. The daughter did not believe in prayer and did not request prayer. Since we are not allowed to pray for those who don’t request it, I had to work with the mom on her own Truth. It’s often difficult to say to someone in great pain, “No, I cannot pray for that,” yet I found success in revealing the perfect thing to help her find her peace. ~ Reverend Karyn Allen
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Many years ago, when I was a newly licensed Practitioner, I had an after-service client for one of our Sunday abbreviated sessions. The client wanted his one surviving elderly parent to be agreeable to transitioning into an assisted-care living situation. When the client first voiced the prayer request, it was for a change in the parent’s attitude. Of course, as a Science of Mind Practitioner, I can only pray for the person in front of me. It is malpractice for me to pray for someone who has not asked for my prayer.
As the client continued to describe the desired outcome, I realized that what he really wanted was to not feel guilty about needing to move his parent into assisted living and to experience a healing of their relationship, at least on his side. After working with that client I realized two things. One is that almost every client requesting prayer for someone else is really looking for healing of something in themselves. And two, almost every after-Sunday- service client probably needs more than a five-minute session. ~ Pam Rocke, RScP
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There was a time I had a young family ask me to pray for their husband and father to come home. It was during the holiday season. Not knowing this man, I knew I could only treat for Divine right action for him. My treatment for the entire family was for all of their hearts to be filled with Love and God’s presence along with divine right action in all of their activities. I learned the next month that he came home and they had a loving family holiday. ~ Kim Province, RScP
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The times when I find a treatment difficult is when I forget that it’s not up to me or when the outcome the person wants seems impossible to me. Or I get tangled up in wondering how I can convince them it can happen. The wonderful thing about our 5-step treatment format is that it starts with recognizing the truth about God and the truth about myself and the person asking for treatment. So I will spend longer on those two steps—until I remember there is an absolutely unlimited power and nothing can be difficult. My part is to know this truth and speak this truth and then let go and let the Power that is unlimited take over. It is only my mind and my misgivings or doubts that I need to treat. For the One Mind is all powerful. And I am so grateful that this is so. ~ Dr. Jeanne Hounshell, RScP