The front door to my home opens outward. One day I was in the doorway pulling the door closed with one hand when a sudden strong gust of wind rapidly forced the door all the way open, flinging me to the grass beyond the small front porch. I landed on one arm and leg so forcefully that the car key in my pocket tore a hole in my pants.

Immediately, this passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy came to thought: “Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious—as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony” (p. 495).

I got up and walked back inside. I resumed my activities, though the arm was painful and I didn’t have normal use of it. I work from my home, and at first it was hard to type with both hands. Later, it was also difficult to drive my car with both hands on the steering wheel. But I faithfully followed the instructions in that passage while doing my best to complete all the necessary business and home tasks. I had full confidence that I would be healed.

As I continued to pray, the pain disappeared and normal use of the arm returned day by day. Gradually, I found myself thinking less and less about the injury, and I was always able to accomplish everything I needed to do for work and home.  

Since early adulthood I have daily prayed for myself and read the weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly. Christ Jesus taught his followers, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). 

“The truth” that I was knowing, or holding to, in this situation included the many ideas from the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings that came to me daily and aided in bringing the freedom that Jesus promised. For example, the Bible tells us: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. . . . And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:27, 31). These ideas, including the passage from Science and Health quoted earlier, were central to this healing.

Later, I was able to drive my car on a trip of about four hundred miles, and I did so with both hands on the wheel and not a bit of discomfort during the trip—or since. Full, normal movement of the arm came soon after. I am thankful for the wisdom our maintenance person showed in adding an attachment to the door to prevent it from swinging open that way again. 

To God goes the glory! I am grateful for Jesus’ healing works, which were an essential part of his wonderful ministry. I am also grateful that application of the laws of God as explained in Mrs. Eddy’s writings can help us to understand better the truths in the Bible and demonstrate God’s healing power.

John Reichard West
Orlando, Florida, US