Walking and dancing again

Words fail to express my gratitude to Father-Mother God for a healing I had not long ago. In September 2011, I was walking on the side of the road at night with a friend, and as I got out of the way of fast-moving cars that were making a left-hand turn, I fell very hard over a speed breaker, or speed bump, and onto my right ankle. I lifted myself up with great difficulty and my ankle area was severely swollen. I immediately began praying, knowing that I was upright, pure, and free and that I was not going to surrender to the suggestions of “animal magnetism,” or a supposed power apart from God, that was trying to say otherwise. 

My friend and I came inside my house, and I called a Christian Science practitioner for prayerful help. The practitioner told me that I could only “fall” into God’s arms and that I could not be hurt. 

Because I could not even change and wear my night clothes due to the pain and swelling, I decided to go to bed in my jeans. I could not get to sleep, and I called the practitioner again, who continued helping me through prayer.

I decided that night that I would not be impressed by the situation, making a firm commitment with myself not to look at my feet (my left foot had also been scraped up). I was inspired by ideas like this one from Mary Baker Eddy: “Not muscles, nerves, nor bones, but mortal mind makes the whole body ‘sick, and the whole heart faint;’ whereas divine Mind heals” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 219 ). I focused on what divine Mind, God, was telling me, instead of my body. 

In the morning, I was able to do all my duties perfectly, despite continued pain, and I had a bath and washed my feet as I normally do. Prayer also kept me alert and awake even though I had not been able to sleep the night before.

I spoke with the practitioner again, who reminded me that accidents are unreal, because they are not from God (see Science and Health, p. 424 ). The practitioner also reminded me that this challenge could not affect my real spiritual qualities. I began to have less swelling and pain at times, but my ankle still hurt. 

On the fourth day after the accident, it started to rain suddenly. Forgetting about the problem temporarily, I ran upstairs to get clothes that were drying on the roof. On coming back downstairs, I was again in pain. But an angel message came to me that I was innocent and that God would never punish me, and the pain stopped.

My ankle was getting better, but a little over a week later, when I needed to go upstairs, I was still afraid to do so. I then decided to obediently lean on the truths I had been studying in the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson, and I was able to climb the stairs easily, without any pain. I continued to resist all the temptations to look at my ankle.

By the end of two weeks from the time I had fallen in the road, I was dancing again. There was no recurrence of pain after that, and the swelling was all gone. 

I learned that I should not focus on the physical condition, but rather pray to know God’s allness and do the work given to us by God. His love is always with us to heal us and add to our spiritual conviction.

Poonam Likhi
Chandigarh, India