One Sunday morning, I thought it would be fun to go for a run before church. As I was jogging down our steps, I was distracted by something in the street. My foot missed a step, and I suddenly found myself on the ground.
The first thing I did was declare, “Nothing happened!” I knew that because God is all and wholly good, there is no place where evil is present and could have an effect. God is always governing every activity flawlessly, so I did not have to accept the false suggestion that a misstep had occurred and I would need to suffer for it.
I recalled a helpful article I’d read in the Journal, “It never happened!” in which the author explains: “What Christian Science healing entails is not a correction of matter, as though matter were substantial and intelligent, but rather a recognition of the eternal spiritual perfection of God’s man. And this results in the outward change we call ‘healing’ ” (Patricia Tupper Hyatt, May 1996).
After affirming again that nothing had happened, I decided to get up and go into the house. It was so tempting to look at my ankle or put ice on it. But I knew that nothing had happened but good, so what was there to look at? And why would ice be needed when God maintains everything in His creation perfectly, including me? Sticking with these spiritual facts, I attended church and then went about the rest of my day. At some point the next day, I realized I was walking without pain.
The following day, though, there was some swelling, and discomfort when I turned the foot in a certain direction. The suggestion came, “Well, that was a pretty bad fall. Good thing nothing was broken. It’s impressive that you can walk OK; just be careful about bending your ankle in that direction.” I quickly recognized this barrage of lies as not coming from divine Mind, and I reasoned again from the standpoint that nothing had happened but good. It wasn’t long before the swelling was gone and I had complete freedom of movement in the ankle. I’ve had no further problem with it since.
Carol A. Miller
Cupertino, California, US
