Halfway through my college experience, I was faced with the prospect of moving overseas with my family. I didn’t want to leave my college or the close friendships that had developed. It wasn’t an option to remain in the United States because the family home was being rented for the duration, and it wasn’t possible to stay at the college between semesters. I desired to find a solution that would be beneficial to my family and to me. 

One day, as I struggled with this issue, I thought it would be a good idea to get out of the dorm for some fresh air and to get quiet. I had been raised attending a Christian Science Sunday School, but I used Christian Science more like a Band-Aid than a directing influence in my life. 

It was a cold, crisp winter evening as I set out for a walk, deep in thought. The campus was quiet under the soft, clear light of the moon. After some time, I made my way through a wooded area that was completely unfamiliar. As I walked, I was unaware that I was approaching a steep drop-off. I stepped off the edge of the cliff, but was able to grab the edge of an ice-covered jagged rock to stop my fall and pull myself back up to the top of the cliff. As I reached solid ground, I realized there was a deep gash across the palm of my hand from when I’d grabbed that rock. 

The wound was severe. I was no longer concerned with the overseas move. I immediately made my way to the cottage on campus where I knew a Christian Science nurse would be on duty because I attended a college for Christian Scientists. I knew that I would receive practical care for the wound along with helpful and supportive metaphysical ideas. On the way, I prayed diligently with the Lord’s Prayer as well as “the scientific statement of being” from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 468).  

The Christian Science nurse gently cleaned and bandaged the wound. She shared some kind, healing thoughts and sent me back to my dorm. Although I don’t remember the specific thoughts she shared, I do recall feeling an all-encompassing motherly love as she spoke that I recognized as an expression of God, divine Love. She asked that I return in the morning so the bandage could be changed.

As I fell asleep that night, I felt calm, not only about my hand but about the family move. This calmness came from the feeling of God’s presence around me. It was an intuitive “priceless sense of the dear Father’s loving-kindness” (Science and Health, p. 366).

Sometime during the night, the bandage fell off. When I awoke in the morning, my hand looked untouched. There was no scar, scab, or even a scratch—no evidence that the fall had ever happened except for the bandage on the floor. I knew the bandage hadn’t done anything to heal me. The Christian Science nurse’s and my recognition of God’s allness did the healing work. The wounded hand was a symbol of the stubborn will and personal desires that I’d been holding on to. I began to realize I could recognize and trust God’s control over all events—past, present, and future. 

Later that morning, I saw that same Christian Science nurse. She examined my hand, chuckled softly, and acknowledged God’s gracious protecting and healing power.

My family did relocate overseas for a year, and I went with them, albeit reluctantly. In retrospect, it was a one-of-a-kind, life-enriching experience. My hand today remains fully functional, without a mark.

Some twenty years later, when I was taking Primary Class instruction in Christian Science, one day the teacher was discussing her previous work as a Christian Science nurse to make a point about what we were studying. She stopped suddenly and looked right at me. At that moment I recognized her as that nurse, and she recognized me as that college student whose hand she had bandaged on that winter night so long ago. She gave that instantly recognizable chuckle and said, “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of a case where a future Primary Class student met their future Christian Science teacher while the teacher was a Christian Science nurse.” That class experience was where stubborn will and personal sense truly began to change in my consciousness. 

Class instruction also sparked a love of the Christian Science pastor—the Bible and Science and Health—that continues to this day. This experience, taken in its entirety, shows that although we may not know what the future holds, we can trust that God is always in control and leads us correctly and safely. 

I’m very grateful for Christian Science, which enables each of us to grow in our own unique, God-directed way.

Charles Perry Howard
Atlanta, Georgia, US