Christine Driessen danced her way through her pregnancy, taking ballet classes practically until the day her daughter was born in 1977. At the time she was pursing a career as a professional dancer, so it wasn’t long after she delivered her daughter – all naturally, at home – that she found herself back in the classroom pirouetting and Grande Jeté-ing again.
“I wasn’t listening to the divine wisdom to just be patient,” she said.
Driessen was in unbearable pain when she got home.
“I could barely breath. I could barely move,” she said. “I thought I was going to die.”
She folded gently into a rocking chair, nursed her newborn child, and prayed.
Soon the pain went away as everything settled back to its rightful place and she had a complete healing, she said.
It’s not the first time she’s witnessed healing without medical attention.
At 10 a.m. on March 1 Driessen will deliver a lecture at First Church of Christ, Scientist, 310 E 14th, where she’ll discuss why healing through prayer is more effective than surgery and medicine.
Driessen, a Christian Science practitioner and an attorney, has been lecturing on this subject at medical schools across the country and recently authored a chapter in “Soul of Medicine: Spiritual Perspectives on Clinical Practice,” published by John Hopkins University Press.
“What I’ll be talking about is the fact that all disease, all physical problems are entirely mental,” she said.
She explained that Christian Science Founder Mary Baker Eddy knew that all drugs, all medical procedures had a negative side and suffering is caused mostly by fear and ignorance.
Driessen uses the King James Bible and “Science and Health,” written by Eddy, to teach that healing is not a combination of medical treatment and spirit.
She explained that Eddy learned through her own healing experiences that trusting God completely is the true path to well-being.
“They (medicine and prayer) are opposites. They don’t go together. One denies the other,” she said. “God blesses his creation. It’s not God’s will for us to suffer, he gives us the power to heal sin and disease.”
Driessen comes from a family of four generations who rely exclusively on Christian Science for healing. In her lifetime, she said, she has never taken a pill or been to the hospital — except to visit a patient.
“This isn’t magic. This isn’t some private club people can join,” she said. “The reason it’s called Christian Science is because science is truth and it’s based on the universal laws that anyone can study.”
Tami Moulton, a local Christian Science practitioner, said Driessen’s lecture is designed for the both for the Christian Science community and for the general public.
“Now more than ever people are really striving to find the connection between spirituality and medicine,” she said. “What do people turn to when there’s no cure, and where is that discussion?”
The lecture is free. Guests are encouraged to bring their Bible, if they have one. For information call the Christian Science Reading Room at (509) 624-1637.
