ONE AFTERNOON when I was a teenager, my sister and I were having fun chasing each other around the house. We both went to playfully kick at each other, when our feet collided and I heard my toe snap. I didn't give much thought to it at the time, because I was excited to go to my friend's house for a slumber party that night. But later that evening as we all sat around watching movies, I looked down at my toe only to find it extremely swollen, purple, and disfigured, although I don't recall there being a lot of pain.
The next morning my dad picked me up, and I needed help getting into the car since I could not walk at all on the foot. When we got home my father, who was not a Christian Scientist, wanted to call the "Ask a Nurse" hotline to see if he needed to take me to the hospital to have the toe set. I asked him if I could pray about the situation while he was on the phone. He had always been very supportive of Christian Science, so he agreed. But he asked that I put my foot in a tub of cold water, which I did.
I was a dancer at the time and had been preparing all year for our dance recital, which was just one week away. The thought of not being able to dance in the recital after so much work loomed in front of me.
As I sat with my foot in the cold water, I began to pray for myself. I had learned in Christian Science to always begin with God and the fact that my identity and my true substance are spiritual, not material. I reasoned that since I was spiritual, I was, in essence, an idea of God, divine Mind. And if I was an idea then I couldn't be broken because you can't break an idea!
This truth of my identity was so clear to me and came so swiftly that in that moment my toe was completely healed. The discoloration, disfiguration, and swelling were instantly—and I mean instantly—gone The shift in my thought had caused an immediate change in my body. I quickly dried off my foot and walked into the kitchen where my dad was still on the phone with the nurse. (I later learned that based on what my father had told them, they did think my toe was broken and needed medical care.) My dad looked at me, and I said, "Look Dad, my toe is perfectly healed!" He quickly hung up with the nurse on the phone, and he and I both gave gratitude to God for this wonderful proof of the healing power of Christian Science.
One week later I was dancing in my dance recital with point shoes on with no problems at all. This reasoning process—that because I am an idea I cannot ever be broken, burned, irritated, torn, or hurt in any way—continues to light my path.
WASHINGTON, DC, US
