LAST SEPTEMBER on my way to church, I fell, turning my foot on its side. I heard a snap. The foot instantly swelled and was quite painful. However, I continued on to church praying all the way. When I returned home, the foot was too painful and swollen to walk on.
I borrowed a set of crutches from the nearby Christian Science nursing facility and checked with a local health clinic to purchase a support shoe I could wear while I was praying for healing. They required an X-ray, which showed the foot was broken. The doctor said it would take six to eight weeks to heal. He offered me medicine for pain and inflammation (which I declined), sold me the shoe, and sent me on my way.
I considered calling a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me, but I realized that I could think rightly about this situation myself. I felt I had the "clear sense and calm trust" Mary Baker Eddy wrote of in Science and Health: "Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not" (p. 495). So I continued praying for myself.
One night as I went into the bathroom, I lost my balance and fell, hitting my chest, back, and jaw. Before I landed on the floor, God's reassuring messages of love came to my rescue. I recalled what Jesus said about the kingdom of God being right at hand and that this kingdom is within us (see Mark 1:15 and Luke 17:21).
I remembered a passage from The Message, a contemporary version of the Bible, "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for" (Jer. 29:11). Ah, God was taking care of me. What more could I possibly need? I went back to bed, sleeping peacefully the rest of the night without experiencing any effects from the fall.
My foot, however, was still swollen and painful. Then, a few days later, I got up in the night to study and pray. Reading that week's Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly, I felt so deeply loved by God that I soon forgot about the broken foot.
Every word of the Lesson had fresh inspiration for me. For example: "Deity was satisfied with His work. How could He be otherwise, since the spiritual creation" (that's me, I thought) "was the outgrowth, the emanation, of His infinite self-containment and immortal wisdom?" (Science and Health, p. 519). Wow! God was satisfied with me! I am the outgrowth of God—absolute perfection! No room for imperfection. Nowhere!
I continued to read from Science and Health: "There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause ..." (page 207). It was clear I couldn't experience anything that did not come from the one primal cause, God.
Later that morning I helped friends staff a booth for a Native American activity in their community two hours away. All day I continued to feel the presence of God surrounding me.
The next day, Sunday, I noticed the swelling had gone down, so I put on a regular pair of shoes. Then, almost as if someone spoke to me, I heard, "Arise, take your stand." So I did. For the first time in two weeks, I could put full weight on both feet without any discomfort.
As I was driving to church later that morning, many strong, clear spiritual truths about my identity as God's child, His perfect reflection, flooded my thought, which were very uplifting and humbling.
Arriving at church, I thought, You walk with Love. With that, I walked into church. No crutches! It was one of the most inspiring services I've ever attended. When it was over, I walked out unaided, rejoicing all the way. I could barely contain myself.
Some tenderness lasted for a few days, but I knew the healing was complete. And so it was. I've had no problem with my foot since. What I continue to have is a better understanding of God and my relationship to Him.
BALLWIN, MISSOURI
The question, What is Truth, is answered by demonstration,—by healing both disease and sin; and this demonstration shows that Christian healing confers the most health and makes the best men.
—MARY BAKER EDDY
