Late one night, I got a call from the children’s hospital, saying that my 20-year-old daughter had been run over by a car, and was in very serious condition.
I began praying immediately. From the beginning, I decided that gratitude would be my support. I was going to thank God, because when one expresses gratitude, one feels God’s presence. One cannot be grateful and, at the same time, desperate. There can be no negative thoughts when one is grateful for the presence of God, who is infinite good. Therefore, if good is present, there is no room for anything else.
Mary Baker Eddy writes, “God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 473).
I went with my son to the hospital, filled with hope that everything would be all right. When we got there, I thanked God for all the people who were working there at that late hour, expressing so much love for their neighbor. I expressed thanks for everything.
Although my daughter was in and out of consciousness, at one point she recognized me and said, “Mom, please, ask God for help.” I told her that I was praying, and reassured her that God was helping.
I noticed that the person tending to her was brusquely cleaning her wounds, and that it was very painful to my daughter, who was having a very hard time. I became indignant at this, and I realized I needed to control my feelings, but was unable to. I was praying and, at the same time, struggling to express gratitude.
Suddenly, the phone number of a Christian Science practitioner from a neighboring country came clearly to mind. I asked my son to call him and ask him to support my daughter and me through prayer.
My daughter was then transferred to a different hospital, and the medical prognosis was very discouraging. They diagnosed that she had very serious concussions to her head. The X-rays were showing that she had seven fractures, two in her pelvis. After taking some tomographies the doctors thought that she had brain damage, and wanted to take her to neurology. But I began praying with all my heart denying that that condition could be possible. I insisted on knowing that my daughter was a spiritual idea, forever perfect and whole. And that she was “the compound idea of God, including all right ideas” (Science and Health, p. 475). They finally took her to traumatology.
As soon as my son talked with the practitioner, things began changing. It was like going from war to peace. In the morning, when the rest of the family came to see her, everything was calm, and the medical prognosis had completely changed. My daughter was feeling much better. She had regained consciousness, and had begun to speak. Doctors did no more than stitch her wounds and put a cast on one of her arms.
She arrived in the hospital on a Friday, was confined for less than a week, and the following Sunday she attended church, walking with difficulty. A few days later she was completely well, and returned to her regular activities.
For me it was as though she had been reborn. This healing took place 18 years ago, and she has never suffered from any after effects of the accident.
Words aren’t enough to express my gratitude to God for His omnipotent love and power.
Rosario Iris Corrotti, Montevideo
