Many years ago, while attending youth camp, I was attacked by a dog as I ran along the seafront in a town several miles from the campsite. At first I felt a cold sensation on my leg as I came to an abrupt stop. When I turned around to see what had happened, there was this dog growling at me.

Several people, including a police officer who had seen the incident, rushed to my aid. Seeing the wound on my leg, they became concerned, and I was advised by the policeman to seek medical attention immediately.

During those initial moments of high tension and panic, I attempted to turn my thought away from the problem to God. I began to pray to understand that nothing in God's kingdom is harmful and that I was part of God's creation and was constantly within divine Love's embrace. I saw I could use this incident as an opportunity to express more effectively my true nature as the image of God.

I also realised that the dog, too, was created by God and thus must possess only good qualities, which included no anger or destructive tendency. I declined the advice about seeking medical attention. Instead, I walked back to the minibus and waited until my friends arrived. When I told them about the incident, they began to pray with me.

Once back at the campsite, I began to feel sick. At first I thought this was because of the shock of the attack, but I then realised that I had not thoroughly understood my freedom from what concerned bystanders had said would be possible effects from the bite. A Christian Science nurse at the camp bandaged the wound, which was becoming very painful. I was still frightened, so I asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me. In order to speak with the practitioner, I had to go several miles to the nearest telephone box. I had to ask someone to drive me there because by this time I could hardly walk.

During the evening, I became increasingly concerned about my leg. At one point I began to contemplate the very medical treatment that I had earlier rejected. Eventually, after some deep soul-searching, I decided that I would go to the doctor in the morning if I hadn't yet been healed. Back I went, late at night, to the telephone box, intending to tell the practitioner to stop praying for me, because I had decided to have medical care after all. As I lifted the handset, however, a most wonderful thing happened. For the first time I felt peaceful. I felt that everything would be all right.

During our conversation, the practitioner helped me understand the Christ as being the protecting and guiding power of God—the representative of Truth, Life, and Love. She assured me that God would give me the right answer for my needs. It wasn't my course of action that mattered so much as my motive. Spiritual healing could not be based on blind faith or fear—it came from the healing touch of divine Love. My confidence in God's power was restored!

Back at the campsite I slept soundly for the rest of the night. The next day I had a lovely time, which included running on the beach playing sports. Several days later, I had forgotten which leg had been injured. On inspection, I found no wound. It had completely disappeared.

More recently God's protecting thoughts helped me while I was repairing some windows on my house. At one point I was working at the top of the house (some 3.5 meters from the ground) when the thought came strongly to me that I should sing a particular hymn. The first verse begins, "Everlasting arms of Love/Are beneath, around, above" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 53). Because this was not one of my favourite hymns, and I believed I should concentrate on the job at hand, at first I did not obey. The thought persisted, however, so I began to sing.

A short while later, I moved the ladder to a shallower angle, to make it easier for me to reach the entire window. In an attempt to prevent the ladder from sinking into the mud, I put a flat piece of wood beneath the legs. Instead, the wood acted like a ski, and by the time I had reached the top of the ladder, it gave way.

I fell, bouncing off the wall onto the patio below, my legs bending backward as I hit the ground with some force. As I lay there, I felt so grateful for the words of the hymn I had been singing earlier. I felt confident that I would be OK. Shortly, I got up, with only bruises and some scratches on one leg. I went in the house to call a practitioner to pray for me as I was still shocked by the fall. The practitioner emphasised that in God—in divine reality—no fall had occurred, because I was always in god's arms, just as the hymn says.

After a short break, I got back up the ladder and completed the task at hand.

For these and many other proofs of God's protecting care, I give thanks.

Bill Fleming
Chipping Sodbury South Gloucestershire England