While I was swimming in a lake with my family one day, someone jokingly moved an inflatable float as I was midway through a dive. Instead of going through a hole in the float, my head crashed into the float itself. The impact hurt, and my head and neck felt uncomfortable the rest of the day and into the following morning. It was tempting to be afraid, but I trusted God, as I’ve learned to do in my study and practice of Christian Science. 

I recognized that I needed to obey Christ Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount, including, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12), and forgive the family member who had moved the float. Praying with Jesus’ sermon, which has been a dependable guide for me over the years, I was able to forgive. I found that easy to do, as I knew this individual hadn’t intended to harm me. And by forgiving them, I was able to stop thinking about how the accident had transpired.  

A few weeks before this incident, I had been inspired to pray about preventing accidents as well as healing the effects of accidents if they occur. I pondered this sentence in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science: “Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony” (p. 424). 

As I prayed for myself in this moment of need, I went back to this passage and was drawn specifically to the words “must leave the mortal basis of belief.” What this meant to me was that an accident is a form of mortal belief, a suggestion that God’s law of harmony can be interrupted. I saw that I needed to deny this belief and decouple myself from this false basis. Forgiving the family member was a helpful step in this direction, and I continued to pray, affirming my unbreakable unity with God as His daughter. 

Mrs. Eddy writes, “As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and son, are one in being. The Scripture reads: ‘For in Him we live, and move, and have our being’ ” (Science and Health, p. 361). I saw that my true selfhood, or identity, could never be injured, since I was made in God’s likeness, and that my safety had never been threatened, because God, who is my life, is always caring for me. I prayed for myself from this basis until I felt thoroughly settled in this truth.

The discomfort in my head and neck was fading, but one morning I noticed that my hearing was impaired. I was again tempted to be concerned but instead opened my Bible for inspiration. My eyes fell on a verse from an account of Jesus healing a woman. Jesus said to her, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity” (Luke 13:12). I felt confident in the knowledge that the divine law by which Jesus healed is just as applicable and effective today. I wasn’t considering this idea as simply an alternative narrative about an accident; rather, I was affirming that what I’m learning in Christian Science is the only truth. 

With this understanding, it was clear that, in reality, there had never been an accident—to a degree, I had let go of a sense of mortality and gained a deeper understanding of my oneness with God. I put my trust entirely in God, knowing that divine Truth heals completely. Later that day, my hearing was completely normal, and I noticed that the pain in my head and neck was gone, too. 

I’m so grateful for Mrs. Eddy and the clear and loving guidance found in her book, Science and Health. This healing was an important opportunity for me to lean wholeheartedly on the truths taught in Christian Science and to trust God as the only healer. 

Caitlin Sheasley
Concord, Massachusetts, US