Injured wrist healed

One day last year I was taking my wife back to the nursing home, where she lives, after an outing. It started to rain, and in my attempt to get the umbrella from the back seat of our car, I fell and injured my wrist. I thought that it was a small sprain. However, as I assisted my wife inside and made her comfortable, my wrist became increasingly painful. As I drove home, I found that I could not grasp the steering wheel with that hand, and worried that a bone must have been broken. After I arrived home, I strapped the wrist with sticking plaster to keep it stationary, as this seemed a wise thing to do.

I managed to prepare a meal and do all that was necessary, but later on I could not get comfortable and spent a very restless night. First thing the next morning, I phoned a Christian Science practitioner and requested Christian Science treatment. She immediately declared that an accident could never have happened to God’s perfect man—meaning that since I was a reflection of God, made in His image and likeness, I couldn’t be material or susceptible to injury. 

I was very grateful for the practitioner’s loving reminder that a spiritual idea could never fall or be broken. In fact, as we spoke on the phone, I felt the pain receding immediately. In less than two hours all the pain had gone, and I was perfectly comfortable.

At that point I also phoned a Christian Science nurse, who arrived just over an hour later. She carefully removed the sticking plaster around my wrist and applied an elastic bandage and a wrist support, which was more comfortable. That day I continued to pray along the lines of my conversation with the practitioner, reasoning that because I was purely spiritual, I reflected God through strength and freedom of movement.

When the Christian Science nurse phoned next morning, I was pleased to inform her that I had enjoyed a good night’s sleep and was able to take care of household chores. The following morning she came by with a large container of freshly homemade soup, a gesture for which I was very grateful.

I had been removing the wrist support to keep it dry while I showered, and when I took it off on the fourth day, I found that the healing was complete—I could use my hand normally, and there was no more need for the support. 

I am very grateful that the practitioner immediately denied that an accident could happen to an expression of God—I am sure this spiritual stand was the crux of the healing. I am close to my ninth decade and feel thankful for another proof of the power of Christian Science.

This experience showed me, in the words of an article from The Christian Science Journal, “what can be done when error is handled properly, as nothing instead of as something” (J. Woodruff Smith, “The proper handling of error,” January 1947).

John Gregory
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia