In the summer of 2017, I decided to remove a half-fallen tree limb from a wooded area in my backyard. Against the advice of my daughter and her husband, who were visiting for a family celebration, I leaned a heavy ladder against the limb and climbed up to a height of about 15 feet to take it down with a chain saw. The ladder was placed against a part of the branch that I thought was supported by the rest of the tree. I was wrong: It was resting on the part of the branch I was cutting off. 

As I began to cut the branch, the ladder and I fell. I was very grateful to God that I wasn’t entangled in the ladder, that the chain saw fell harmlessly a few feet away from where I landed, and that I didn’t fall on stumps of saplings I’d cut down earlier. But my daughter appeared quite distraught, having witnessed the whole event.  

My daughter and her husband helped me get to a chair in the house, and she urged me to go to a hospital immediately to be checked for any broken bones or internal injuries. Within minutes of being in the chair, I regained composure and began praying for myself. I opted to handle this through prayer in Christian Science; I’d seen its effectiveness in other situations. 

One of the first thoughts I needed to address was the belief that I had done something extremely stupid and deserved to suffer for it. I affirmed that man made in God’s image (which includes all of us) can never depart from the government of divine intelligence and can never be deserving of punishment. I also affirmed that God’s man can never fall from grace but—as a spiritual idea—is always unfallen, upright, and free. I knew that as I understood and held to these spiritual facts about my true identity, I could expect to see evidence of them.

While praying with these spiritual truths, I still felt a need to reach out to a Christian Science nurse, since any mobility was extremely difficult and painful at first. Here again, God’s care was apparent. The Christian Science nurse I reached was about to leave on vacation, but she had just enough time to visit me and provide some equipment that made it possible for me to get up and down and care for my basic needs without assistance. 

I continued to hold to spiritual truths about my true being, intact in God, and I received loving, prayerful treatment from a Christian Science practitioner. Within a few days, I was able to move around fairly normally, and within two weeks, I returned to my ushering duties at church. Since then my recovery has been complete and permanent.

I feel very grateful for this demonstration of the power of God to overrule beliefs of human frailty, which came by turning to God in prayer and realizing man’s essential freedom. I’m also very grateful for many years of health, safety, and divine guidance through the consistent study of Christian Science. 

Gregory Sandford 
Godfrey, Illinois, US