Healing on—and off—the court

It was my first year at boarding school, and I was also playing tennis on a team for the first time. I felt a little overwhelmed with living away from home, having to make brand-new friends, and playing a new sport.

On the second-to-last day of preseason sports camp, I was backpedaling when I lost my balance and fell backward, landing on my wrists. I was able to get up and continue running for the rest of practice, but as the day progressed, it was clear that one of my wrists was injured. It really hurt, and I wasn’t able to move it much. 

Worry after worry piled up. I had been progressing so much each day with my tennis skills and wanted to keep improving for my team, but felt scared that because of this injury, I would have to sit out. I even worried that if I sat out for too long, I would lose all the progress that I’d made. I was also afraid because school would be starting in just four days, and how would I be able to write or even do simple things like getting dressed? 

I talked to my parents about what had happened, and they encouraged me to call a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. This seemed like a good idea because I would much rather be healed than be sitting out with an injury. So the next day I gave her a call. 

I wanted to keep improving for my team, but felt scared that because of this injury, I would have to sit out.

The practitioner shared a line from Hymn 189 in the Christian Science Hymnal, which says, “My going and my coming / He crowneth with His grace” (Bohemian Brethren). She explained that although I might be facing a lot of changes, none of them could affect my well-being or relation to God. My relation to God is always secure and never changes, so I knew I was secure. I took “my going and my coming” to mean the new, exciting adventure of the tennis season. And being crowned “with His grace” meant God’s love was protecting me, so in reality, I couldn’t be hurt. I felt my fear and worries fade as I accepted these ideas as true.

The next day my wrist was significantly better, and although I sat out of practice again, I was able to do everything else I needed to do that day. The practitioner and I kept praying together, and I felt more and more convinced that I had never stepped out of God’s care for a second. I could tell that healing was happening. 

The next day there was even more improvement, and I was able to go to the conditioning practice and do most of the workouts while modifying a few. By the first day of school, I was able to write perfectly, and during tennis that afternoon, I practiced with the team as I normally would. I was grateful I’d retained almost all the progress I’d made before the injury and that I was able to rejoin my team. 

I felt more and more convinced that I had never stepped out of God’s care for a second.

Maybe a week later, when we were practicing our serves, I felt a slight pain in the same wrist. Not wanting this issue to resurface, I immediately prayed with this idea from the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history” (p. 470). I prayed to understand more clearly that there hadn’t been some lapse from harmony (a fall with painful effects) and then a return to it, but that the unchanging truth was that I had always been fully protected by God. So there was nothing negative that could reoccur or resurface. After I prayed this way, I was able to continue playing without worrying that my wrist would bother me in the future. The slight pain subsided, and I was free from any discomfort for the rest of the season. I’m also grateful to say that I went on to make good friends and to acclimate quickly to my new school.

My best take-away from this healing was the deeper understanding that even when you’re facing change, your relation to God never changes, and He, She, is always there for you to lean on.