A few years ago i was seriously injured in an automobile accident. While still at the scene I found myself unable to fully comprehend what was going on or where I was. Hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal were running through my thought, and they sounded very clear and beautiful. I focused on the hymns and their beauty—their harmony and their meaning. I refused to let any other thought or fear into my consciousness. Those hymns were my "guardians in the gloom" (see Science and Health, p. 174).
When a voice asked if she could help me, I opened my eyes and asked her to call my employer and a Christian Science practitioner. The woman was a medical aide who had been working nearby. She reported to the practitioner that they did not expect me to live. Fortunately, I did not hear this and kept my attention on the all-presence of God, Truth. Mrs. Eddy writes: "Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power, and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These angels of His presence, which have the holiest charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of Mind, and consequently reproduce their own characteristics" (p. 512). I think this quotation from Science and Health explains why I felt no pain, even though broken bones were diagnosed at the scene. The hymns were so beautiful that I felt the presence and care of divine Love.
The practitioner who received the medical aide's call agreed to begin praying for me immediately. At the X-ray room in the hospital to which I was taken, I continued to listen only to the messages of Truth I had learned from my study of Christian Science. I knew that a doctor was present and that many X-rays were being taken. However, no broken bones were found.
