I was getting ready to give a riding lesson and leading my horse from his stall when two barn cats erupted into a screaming fight. This spooked my horse. He jumped forward, losing his balance, and all four feet went out from under him. He fell into me, sending me headfirst into a door jamb. I found myself lying on the ground, stunned but conscious, with two huge swellings on my head. I gathered my thoughts and affirmed that I could not be hurt—that there is one cause and effect—God, good. 

My friend who owns the barn was very concerned. A year prior to this, she’d had a brain bleed from a fall and had to be airlifted to a hospital. She strongly advised me to go to the emergency room. I reasoned that since this occurred on her property, it was the considerate thing to do. I knew that wherever I am, God is with me and governing the situation. 

As she drove me to the hospital, the thoughts that came to me were about power. There seemed to have been such a powerful hit with possibly powerful consequences. But I affirmed that there is only one power—God, who is Love, Life, and Spirit. Nothing can challenge that power. 

A CT scan at the hospital revealed a brain bleed, and the doctors said I should be admitted for treatment. Thankfully, while waiting for results and neurologists’ opinions, I was able to pray. I had my phone with me and could read the Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly and Christian Science articles from JSH-Online.com. I wasn’t on medication or in pain. 

The Lesson topic that week was “Substance.” One of the ideas I worked with was trusting the substance of Spirit rather than matter. For instance, two passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy were particularly helpful. One was: “Question.—What is substance? Answer.—Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay” (p. 468). And the other was: “To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, combine as one,—and are the Scriptural names for God. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality, cause, and effect belong to God” (p. 275). 

These passages helped me to understand that I could not be injured because there is no cause outside of God, that nothing other than God can touch me, and that God governs every right activity I am involved in. 

Also, this prayer from Psalms 31:2, “Be thou my strong rock,” helped me to know that God was giving me strength and courage to overcome this challenge. God was everywhere I was; He was there with me right then. As I was figuring out when to tell the medical staff that I preferred to go home, the doctor told me they were considering waiting a while and then doing another CT scan to see if the bleed had stabilized. I happily agreed. 

After the second scan, a surprised doctor told me the brain bleed had disappeared altogether. I then said to him, “What if I told you I was a Christian Scientist?” He asked, “You mean you willed it away?” and I kindly replied, “No; it’s just that I know physiology doesn’t have the last word.” 

I thanked the doctors and nurses for their good care and danced out of the emergency room. There was bruising on my face, but that cleared up. There was no lasting effect for me or my horse, and we continue to work together. 

I am so grateful for this healing and for the ability to demonstrate that divine Love is indeed all-powerful, always present, and fills all space. 

Cynthia Dunne 
East Meredith, New York, US