One day, 15 years ago, while working as a seamstress at a friend’s house, the sewing machine threaded needle was driven into my left thumb nail, catching the finger at the machine's darning foot. The puncture was not very deep, but I felt a stabbing pain. I started sweating and losing my strength, as I was unable to remove the needle from the nail. My workmate seemed more perplexed than me, but, after a few tries, she was able to turn the machine wheel, which pulled the needle upwards and released my finger.
I left the room to pray, but I also called a Christian Science practitioner and asked her to support me through prayer.
The practitioner told me to be calm and declared that in divine reality all was well. In fact, as Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, ‘I am hurt!’ Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real. Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine metaphysics, confidence in God as All….” (p. 397). The practitioner asked me to remain confident that good had never been altered, since harmony in God’s kingdom, where we all live, is immutable. She suggested I wash the injured finger because of any bleeding, but recommended that I avoided looking at it in order to check its condition.
