It happened on a Sunday in December, on my way to church. I felt calm and poised, and was looking forward to conducting the church service. I got out of the streetcar, slipped, and fell. "Why?" was my first thought. I wasn't able to get up right away; the wind had been knocked out of me. So I turned to putting my thoughts in order. "Father, You are with me every moment, and nothing has happened to Your spiritual creation, to which I belong." My second attempt at getting up was successful; I made it over to the railing and leaned up against it, gave a sign in the direction of the streetcar, and it continued on its way. I could barely carry my bag with the books anymore. The question "Why?" kept coming to me. A hymn from the Christian Science Hymnal came to mind: "Take my life, and let it be / Consecrated, Lord, to Thee" (No. 324).
Because it hurt every time I tried to take a breath, and I was finding it more and more difficult to move my right side, I asked the usher if she would pray for me so that I could hold the church service.
Here, too, I had the words of the hymn in thought:
