Two and a half years ago, while I was riding my bicycle early...

JoAnn McClure Seagren

Two and a half years ago, while I was riding my bicycle early one morning, a speeding car struck me and I was left lying on the road. I prayed for myself and recall vividly the feeling of God's love enveloping me and dispelling my fear. I knew that nothing could really prevent me from being conscious of God's love, and I found I was able to think clearly. Shortly, some people stopped to help, and at my request they called my parents to take me home.

As soon as we got home we called a Christian Science practitioner and a Christian Science nurse. For the next two months I worked closely in prayer with the practitioner, while the nurse attended to my physical care. (The accident was reported to the police; however, they said that finding the driver was hopeless because there were no witnesses. I don't recall ever feeling anger or hate for the driver, but I did have to overcome a sense of sadness that he or she had not had enough concern or sense of responsibility to stop.) Every physical difficulty was healed, including broken bones and deep wounds on my body. Injury to my head, including symptoms of a concussion, disappeared early on. The pain, which had been particularly severe at first, ceased within two days and never returned, as I began to be truly grateful for the care God had already shown me.

Gratitude and love filled our home. I continued to be resolute and firm about refuting feelings of self-pity every time they came to my thought. My main goal became to understand more about my relationship to God, as in truth His image and likeness, and about what my right activity as God's child included.

I realized that before the accident I had been so preoccupied with my many human activities that frequently I had been postponing spiritual study and prayer. What I needed to learn was that I was not two separate people: one a mortal, struggling to cope with everyday life, and the other an elusive spiritual identity far removed and beyond my reach. I realized that man has always been spiritual, the complete and perfect likeness of God, and that this true spiritual selfhood was mine at all times.

After some time I was functioning normally, and before long I was playing tennis, skiing, running, and riding my bicycle again. Most important, it has been natural for me to continue to grow in the understanding of man's true nature. Class instruction in Christian Science and membership in a branch church have further deepened my growth, and I continue to learn and understand more each day!

JoAnn McClure Seagren
Fox River Grove, Illinois

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