FIVE YEARS AGO on Thanksgiving day, I tripped on a step and fell face down on a brick walkway. I banged up my face and dislodged my two front teeth. I was in shock, but my daughter called a Christian Science practitioner to give me prayerful support, and meanwhile calmly began reading to me from Science and Health.
Early the next morning a dentist agreed to see me on his day off. He put the teeth back in place and affixed them with a wire until I could get to an oral surgeon for implants, which the dentist said I must have immediately.
The next big development was what I call my "fasting from society." I spent the next few days in total seclusion with the Bible, the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, and the Christian Science periodicals getting to a place of spiritual peace, joy, calm, gratitude, and love that I had never experienced before. No TV, no phone, no computer, no people other than my precious daughter bringing me soup and milkshakes once in a while. I began to think this was what Jesus did in his three days in the tomb. I felt a resurrection in my thinking, knowing I was an idea of God and not made of matter—beautiful or ugly. I saw that I had been spiritually intact always, and could have no thoughts of vanity or fear. This was so helpful as I wrestled over and over with the image of smacking my face on those bricks. I slowly realized I had never fallen out of God's arms, and I wanted to stay in that wonderful, peaceful place.
