In July, my family held their family reunion at Lake Tahoe. There were about 20 of us, including several of my teen-aged grandchildren and their friends. One day, 15 of us decided to rent bicycles for a 4-hour bike ride. I had not been on a bike for over 25 years, so I “practiced” in the Lodge parking lot.
After riding about 1-2 hours down to the south edge of Lake Tahoe for our picnic lunch, I hit a tricky curve and flew head over heels. When my sons picked the bike up and away from me, I heard a sound like a bone cracking in my ankle. I started praying for myself, knowing that I couldn’t fall from God’s grace, and that accidents could not happen to a child of God. I could not break away from God’s goodness and perfection, which I continually express.
I was able to ride for another 20 minutes to the lunch spot, but when I tried to get back on the bike after lunch, my ankle had swollen and there was pain when I tried to walk. I was able to get a ride back to the lodge, where I tried to get comfortable and called a Christian Science practitioner. He told me how he and his wife had been skiing years ago, and she fell and fractured her ankle coming down the slope. The ski patrol brought her down the hill. While she lay on the bed in pain, he prayed, but with no improvement. Finally he realized he was starting from the wrong premise. He was praying to heal a fractured ankle–to make it well. He should have started with God and prayed to see that as God’s image and likeness, she could only express God’s perfection. He didn’t have to petition God to make an injured body into a well body, since in God’s sight, she was never touched by harm. Starting from this correct premise melted the conviction of pain and injury, with the result that the next morning she jumped out of bed and skied comfortably all day.
I expected to get the same results! But it took me a little longer. I needed my son to drive me back home from the reunion, as I was not able to do so. The hardest thing for me through this experience was to erase the mental picture of seeing myself lying on the ground, and hearing the crack of the bone. But the material senses do not have any genuine authority or reality in God’s sight. Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, tells us that “..Man is not material; he is spiritual.” (P. 468 in Science and Health.)
I was inspired and uplifted by daily prayer and treatment from the practitioner, and in about 2 weeks I had a complete healing. During this time, my family called or e-mailed me every day and I would say, “All is well.” The truth was that I could not express anything that God was not expressing! What really needed correcting was believing I could be separated from God. After all, God made everything, and He made it good. (The Bible tells us so!) So now I can take my 4-mile daily walks and play golf every week. I expect to be able to climb the mountains again at our next family reunion. All truly is well!
J.P.