Soccer injury quickly healed

A few years ago, as I was approaching my senior year of college, I had a significant healing. I was to return to school the next day to begin soccer camp. As it was my last year, I was eager to enjoy my final season. On the day before I was to leave, I had the opportunity to work out with my old high-school team during one of its practices. It was great to scrimmage with other players.

During one of the last plays, I went in to challenge an opposing player for the ball. As we met, our legs became tangled, and we fell down on each other. I heard a crunching noise and a pop. I quickly realized it had come from my knee. I tried to get up, but the pain in my knee was unbearable. I thought that there was no way I would be able to walk, let alone start soccer camp in two days.

I was carried off the field to my car, and a friend drove me home. I was scared about what had happened. I couldn't stop thinking "Why did this happen to me?" and "Am I going to have to sit out my final season?" No matter how I tried to shake these thoughts, I couldn't.

Once I was at home, I called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. The next day I drove off to school, clinging to the warmth of God's love. It was a long road trip to school, and I had plenty of time to pray and align my thought with God's law of perfect harmony and constant good. Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Principle and its idea is one ..." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 465 ). I knew that as the perfect idea of God I was, in truth, never separate from His constant care—not even for an instant. I also knew that accidents were impossible in God's universe because God is omnipresent (always present) and omniscient (all-knowing). Since God knows only good, I should know nothing different as His reflection. I clung to these ideas throughout the entire trip.

When I arrived at school, I called the practitioner to tell her how I was doing. I had been using crutches, and whenever I tried to put weight on my knee, the pain was too much. The practitioner spoke to me in a way that completely turned the situation around. Her voice had a firmness I hadn't heard before, and she let me know that I had a choice to make: I could claim my rightful identity as the image and likeness of God, the man who never hurt his knee and who was free from any type of injury. After I woke the next morning, I told my coach that I had hurt my knee but that I still planned on taking the soccer fitness test the following day. I also decided to ditch the crutches and lean completely on God.

My knee still hurt very badly, but every time I felt the pain, I opened my thought to pure love and gratitude for everything I had learned in Christian Science. When the injury made me feel sorry for myself, I replaced those thoughts with gratitude.

As the day went on, the limp became a walk, the walk a jog, and the jog a run. I began jogging up and down the stairs, feeling very little pain. The pain had been replaced with joy, confidence, and gratitude.

The next morning I took the fitness test with the rest of the team. During the workout (which entailed timed sprints and a two-mile run), I glorified God. My healing was so complete that I stood up in church that Wednesday and testified to the completeness of Christian Science healing.

Travis Thomas
Boston, Massachusetts