About a year ago as I stepped from a street car in one of our large cities I was struck by an automobile going at a high rate of speed. As I whirled in the air I heard my own voice say, "God is my life," and although an alert police officer came quickly to my rescue, I made an effort to rise from the pavement before any assistance came, which confirms my belief that I did not lose consciousness. When I found my effort to get up in vain, I realized that my part was to hold to the truth about my relation to God, as we are taught in Christian Science. I heard fear expressed on account of the fact that my head must have received a terrible blow, but was able mentally to declare and understand why I was not hurt, and as a result I did not even have a headache. When I heard some one say my arm was broken, I remembered that in order to apply the teachings of Christian Science I must be quick and firm with my denials and "understand the reason why," as Mrs. Eddy instructs us on page 397 of Science and Health. I realized the truth of the psalmist's words, "He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."
On finding myself in a hospital, I remembered that Daniel was cast into the den of lions, and the thought came to me that if he had looked to material weapons for his help instead of keeping his gaze steadfastly heavenward and clinging to his faith that God was able to deliver him, he might have been destroyed also. I can never be grateful enough for the help Daniel's good example was to me. I was, however, very desirous of being in a more harmonious atmosphere than a medical hospital is to a Christian Scientist; and one day as I earnestly pondered the question as to the best way to obtain my freedom from a discordant environment, I realized that it could come only through right thinking. I knew that as the child of divine Love, I could not be made to believe in a discordant condition of any kind, for if God did not make it, then it was not real. With this line of thinking on my part and the help of a practitioner, I soon left the hospital.
On account of family fear and lack of faith in Christian Science treatment I had to submit to having X-rays of the injured arm. The surgeon in charge was a friend of my husband, and assured him the day I left the hospital that the bones were uniting "splendidly;" but after four days of rejoicing and gratitude for peace and harmony in the home of a Christian Science friend, the surgeon came to us with the news that they had been entirely mistaken in regard to the X-ray picture of my arm, for after consulting with two specialists they were convinced there was no sign of the bones uniting. As the arm was badly lacerated the surgeon had been putting clean dressings on it, but after he told us that they were mistaken about it and felt that the arm must be massaged, I decided to rely absolutely upon Christian Science treatment, so he was discharged, I saw that I must prove what Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 167), "Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized." The surgeon wrote us, "There is a strong possibility of nonunion ... and I wish you both to believe me sincere when I insist that it will be necessary to have you in the hospital where such treatment as is deemed necessary is available."
