Quick recovery from arm injury
When my son was in grade school, I received a call from the school nurse that he had fallen in gym class. The nurse said my son had badly injured his arm. I quickly drove the three blocks to school, gathered up my son and his bicycle, which he had ridden to school, and we went home. My son was concerned because we had planned to attend a school function that night. I carefully made a sling to support his arm, as well as to take thought off the physical picture of injury, and we began to pray together for healing, comforting ideas. I have spent my life listening to God’s gentle and sometimes insistent counsel, and have always been in awe of how immediate and helpful His instruction is, so I was comfortable relying on prayer and Christian Science treatment in this situation as well.
My son had said his arm was painful when I picked him up from school, but as we prayed, he felt much more comfortable, and, because of what he knew about God from Sunday School, he wanted to rely on prayer for healing and was expectant of being quickly and completely free of pain.
A Bible passage with Paul’s words from the book of Romans came to thought: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (8:38, 39 ). I talked with my son about not being able to be separated from good—since God is good and always with us, good has to be our only experience. He was satisfied with that assurance.
I then turned to Science and Health with Key to Scriptures to read what Mary Baker Eddy had to say about that Bible passage. I found this wonderful explanation: “It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material sense of things, which hide spiritual beauty and goodness. Understanding this, Paul said: ‘Neither death, nor life, … nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.’ This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death. The perfect man—governed by God, his perfect Principle—is sinless and eternal” (p. 304 ).
Well, there was my assignment! What would attempt to block the complete healing? Nothing but “ignorance and false belief.” My conversation with myself went something like this: “My son has been in God’s care yesterday, today, and always. God knows nothing about accidents [see Science and Health, p. 424 ], therefore we are not trying to heal something that could not and did not happen to God’s child.” I also really liked this reminder from the chapter “Prayer” in Science and Health: “Do we expect to change perfection?” (p. 2 ). My answer was, “Of course not!”
Those thoughts were very reassuring to me, and I was grateful to see my son playing later that day with no sign of discomfort. He was able to move his arm freely and painlessly. Wonderful! Thank you, Father! We were even able to go to the concert that evening. “What cannot God do?” (Science and Health, p. 135 ).
There were more blessings in store, too. The same day I picked my son up from school, I had cashed my husband’s payroll check. I remembered I needed to put the money away, but there was no sign of my purse anywhere. When I reviewed my steps, I remembered I had put the purse on top of the car as I loaded my son’s bicycle! The trip from the school to our home included a busy highway with lots of traffic, and hours had passed since our return.
I went back to that strong statement that we, God’s children, could not be deprived of any good—that the joy over my son’s healing could not be turned into sorrow or loss. I quickly added that I could not be robbed of the understanding that God’s man is honest. I continued to pray silently and listen for God’s direction as we had dinner. Soon the phone rang, and the man on the other end told me he was a truck driver and had been delivering supplies to the school. He had picked up the purse from the middle of the street and tucked it into his truck until he could get home and make a call (this was way before we were all individually wired with cellphones!). Before I could make arrangements to go and pick up the purse, he offered to bring it to me as he had to go to a meeting in the area anyway. It was a beautiful, complete experience of answered prayer. This dear man wanted no reward and was so pleased that he had been able to help. Of course, I was the one that had received the reward, and my eyes filled with tears.
In the case of my son’s freedom from injury and pain, and the recovery of my purse, I remember the joy of that wonderful listening time I had with our Father even now.
Roxa Van Dyck
Queensbury, New York, US
The experience, as recalled by my mother, happened when I was in grade school, and this testimony was shared many times as an example of answered prayer. I am grateful for all the prayerful support I had from both my mom and dad as I was growing up.
Grant Van Dyck
Bow, New Hampshire, US
