It was through the study of the current Quarterly Lesson-Sermon and the prayerful support of a practitioner that I was able to rise above the effects of a severe fall. The subject of the lesson was "Adam and Fallen Man," and the recurrence of this lesson has prompted me to express deep gratitude for Christian Science.
I was a new student of Science at the time, and my husband and I were visiting with friends in a nearby town. They wanted to show us the grounds where a rodeo is held each year. Although the company and their horses had left, there remained one man with some horses of his own. When we arrived, there was a young boy riding toward us. Our friend turned to me and asked if I would like to ride this horse. I said, "Of course." I did not know at the time that it was a horse bred and trained to work in rodeo shows, to start at a rapid gallop and then make a quick, short stop.
I rode him out some distance and then turned him toward the barn. He started off at a gallop and raced directly for the barn. I was unable to keep my seat; and as he made his usual short stop, I was hurled through the air and struck a heavy wooden stanchion. As my husband later described the incident, the impact was so great that my body bounced three or four times when it landed on the ground. Although I did not fully understand why, I clearly remembered words from a Christian Science lecture to the effect that man can never lose consciousness, and I was able to get to a sitting position. I repeated these words over and over.
