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.
