IT WAS A GLORIOUS DAY, all sunny and warm. The salt-scented breeze encouraged my parents to rent bicycles. Gently pedaling through a resort area, they chatted and chuckled, enjoying the freedom of a mid-winter Florida vacation. Then suddenly, my mother's front wheel caught in a grate. She fell to the pavement, badly injuring an arm. To all appearances, it was broken.

She told me later her first thought was, There are no accidents in divine Mind (see Science and Health, p. 424). Divine Mind is an inspired name for God, the Creator, who knows only good. By declaring that divine Mind was present then and there, my mother was instantly placing herself under God's loving care. This care includes harmony and wholeness. In the divine Mind which creates only good, pain and breakage are forever excluded. God's law supersedes chance and accident. In that moment, my mother decided to trust the divine law and power of God to heal her. From her study of Christian Science, she had learned that God governs by divine law. Through praying to understand that fact, she had experienced the healing power of God many times.

Deciding to return home, my parents packed their bags and drove north. After spending the night in a motel en route, my mom looked in The Christian Science Journal (a sister publication of this magazine) for the listing of a Christian Science practitioner in the area and scheduled an office visit. The practitioner talked with her about divine Love, another synonym used to describe God in the Bible (see I John 4:7, 8). He helped her perceive that there are no breaks or interruptions in divine Love's presence and care. They talked about the unbroken relationship Mom had with Love, whose arms forever surround her and hold her. They discussed the certainty of God's love. Instead of focusing on the human body, the practitioner helped Mom turn her attention to divine Love for assurance of her safety and wholeness.

On the road again, my mother told me, she silently prayed for several hours. She affirmed that she was "held in the hand of God" and had never fallen out of His love. She thought deeply about the healing law of divine Love and how Love had always embraced her. She consciously prayed to love even those who might have hurt her in the past.

As Mom was praying in this way, she felt several adjustments take place in her arm, indicating to her that bones were moving into proper place. Before they reached home, the pain she'd been experiencing left. Within another day, she was using the arm freely. She was healed.

Accidents, disease, layoffs, marital troubles, sometimes seem to pop out of nowhere. Like a dark cloud appearing on the horizon, they may appear to threaten the sunshine and happiness in our lives. We might feel vulnerable. When such negative things happen, and we feel shocked and frightened, is there a solid way to pray that brings peace and healing?

Faithful people in Bible times sometimes asked the same questions. The Psalmist cried, "My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?" But the answer came, "Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God" (Ps. 42:3, 11). This assurance turned the Psalmist toward God and pointed him toward peace and healing. Likewise, prayer certainly assured my mom and healed her of the effects of that bicycle accident. From her experience, she would say not to be shocked by random circumstances but to cling steadfastly to God.

But how can we feel consistently secure in turning to God for healing, when accident, disease, and destruction rage around us? I've found that when fear is gone, answers come and healing happens.

Fear makes us doubt God and hides the healing power of good. Fearing is believing in the negative. Fearing is like looking into dust and darkness…and seeing no farther. But the light of Christ, Truth, illumines the darkness of fear and reveals the answers that you need. The Christ—God's voice speaking in human consciousness—awakens us to feel God's presence. It begins at once to remove fear. And as fear lessens, the windows of heaven open, and we feel God's healing grace.

When my mom appeared to be the victim of a chance accident, she handled her fear with immediate prayer. In my own life, I've discovered numerous effective ways to prayerfully overcome fear and shock, illustrated in the Bible and discussed in Science and Health. Let me share just a few:

1. AFFIRM THAT GOD GOVERNS ALL. Mary Baker Eddy wrote: "Always begin your treatment [healing prayer] by allaying the fear of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemption from disease and danger." Then she added, "The great fact that God lovingly governs all…is your standpoint, from which to advance and destroy the human fear of sickness" (Science and Health, pp. 411-412). The silent affirmation that divine Mind lovingly governs a person's thought, feeling, and action can calm fear. The truth of God's allness is so powerful that realizing it even to a small degree destroys your fear.

2. REMOVE FEAR BY REVERSAL. Whatever the concern is, you can declare the opposite to be true. This isn't ignoring fear; it is declaring evil to be untrue and depriving it of any power in your thought. When circumstances indicate that you're vulnerable or at the mercy of chance, declaring the direct counterfact relative to God's presence often removes fear. You can build such rejection of fear around spiritually truthful arguments such as these: "There is no pain in Truth, and no truth in pain; no nerve in Mind, and no mind in nerve; no matter in Mind, and no mind in matter; no matter in Life, and no life in matter; no matter in good, and no good in matter" (ibid., p. 113).

3. LOVE IN A MORE PERFECT WAY. When you feel loved by God, you don't feel afraid. The writer of First John said: "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him…perfect love casteth out fear" (4:16, 18). If we're humble enough to acknowledge that God loves us, fear begins to disappear. God loves you even if you're not feeling very lovable. God loves you even if you aren't sure that you love Him. If you can accept even for a moment that God is Love, any hatred that is hiding God from your heart will soften. At this moment, divine Love is reaching out to you. I know you can feel some degree of God's love for you and be comforted.

4. FACE DOWN YOUR FEARS. Consider the example of Moses. When God called him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, he was afraid. But instead of running away, he turned to God with his fears—and God removed them. Even though Moses felt unworthy, the Lord assured him that He would be with him each step of the way. God impelled Moses to turn on his fears, which took form as a snake as well as a fatal disease on his body. And as Moses came to trust the supreme power of God, he confronted what looked so threatening, and quickly saw corresponding evidence of his God-given health and dominion over evil. Facing fear by turning wholeheartedly to God, and being obedient to the divine Mind's inspiration, destroyed fear and its effects (see Ex., chaps. 3, 4). Your heavenly Father will help you face your own threatening fears—and overcome them — with spiritual understanding.

5.CLING TO THOUGHTS OF GOD. Mrs. Eddy wrote, "When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea." In fact, the entire paragraph in which this sentence appears, on page 495 of Science and Health, says much about how to destroy fear and the shock sometimes associated with it. Shock dulls spiritual thinking so that we don't quite realize that fear is overwhelming us. It's so helpful not to "rerun" mental pictures of accidents and sudden trouble. Instead we can prayerfully dwell on what is good. Steadfastly holding to the good prevents a tendency to oscillate between spiritual Truth and material error. Pages 275 and 475 in Science and Health highlight other specific spiritual facts to help keep thought sided firmly with God and His creation — on the spiritual views that dispel worry and negative mental images.

Accident. Chance. Misfortune. Happenstance. There are many ways to overcome the fear associated with these illusions and to feel that God's care is dependable and effective and freeing. It's your communion with God that brings assurance. Try quieting fear for one day, and see if this doesn't connect you with the healing Christ. God is with you. He will never leave you. That's not a chance; it's a certainty. css