As an architect, sometimes I have to inspect the sites of future...

Carolina Maria Cardoso with contributions from Lúcia Cardoso

As an architect, sometimes I have to inspect the sites of future work for the purpose of obtaining subsidies for the projects. On one of these occasions I went to a particularly inhospitable location. I didn't know beforehand that the area was covered with high brush, which came up to my waist, and that there wasn't even a path to walk on. My colleagues wore trousers and boots, while I, the only woman on the team, was dressed in a skirt and sandals.

Walking in the midst of the brush, I suddenly felt a sharp prick on my foot. The pain was so strong that tears began to pour from my eyes. At the instant of the bite, however, there came to mind a passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy that says, "All of God's creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible" (p. 514). I said to myself that only creatures of God could be there. That idea helped me to overcome the fear. I didn't let my colleagues know about my pain, because I didn't want them to worry.

As soon as I arrived home I went to take a bath and clean the place where I had been bitten. I was still feeling a lot of pain. Knowing that God is the only real power, I couldn't let myself be impressed by the appearance of injury, which would suggest a malignant power. A passage from Science and Health helped me a lot as I prayed. The first sentence reads, "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter" (p. 468). I repeated to myself the whole passage, which I know by heart, thinking about its profound significance. With this, the pain immediately went away and never returned. In three days there was no more sign of the bite, nor were there any further problems.

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