Standing up for my freedom

Dean Ziesler

Originally appeared online in the teen series Your Healings - August 24, 2025

At the start of the summer, I was mountain biking with my team when I hit a jump faster than I had expected and was launched over the handlebars.

When I landed, I felt a sharp pain in my forearm. The coach who had been following me stopped to help. We walked back to base together because I could no longer use my arm to pull the brakes. On the walk back, I was thinking about the last time I hurt my arm mountain biking, and I was sad that most of my summer would probably be ruined again by a similar injury.

My mom said that we could rely on Christian Science for healing. Knowing I had a choice gave me a feeling of strength.

When we got to the base, my mom and another coach were waiting for me. The coach was a nurse and checked my arm. She told me it was broken, confirming my worst fear.

On the drive home, Mom and I talked about my God-given freedom—that as His child, I was free from breakage and didn’t have to accept this diagnosis. These were ideas I’d been learning while studying Christian Science. In Christian Science Sunday School and at home, we talk about the fact that we are made in the likeness of God, who is Spirit and perfect. Since I’m the reflection of Spirit, I’m spiritual and perfect, too. So I can’t be broken.

The next day, my mom told me she had made an appointment with a doctor where we could get a waterproof cast so I could swim and go on our boat. When she told me this, I froze in fear. I really didn’t want to go. She could sense my apprehension and told me I didn’t have to go to the doctor. She said that we could instead rely on Christian Science for healing.

I felt very strongly that I wanted to rely on Christian Science. I thought of this as sort of like an ultimatum—a final decision to fully stand up for my freedom. Knowing I could make the choice to stand for my freedom by relying on Christian Science gave me a feeling of strength and let me set an ultimatum in my thoughts about what I was going to believe, which is that I wasn’t broken.

Even though my arm still hurt, I was firm in my understanding that I was truly spiritual—completely whole. The last time I’d had this injury, when the doctor told me my arm was broken, it made me feel bad. I hadn’t liked being told I was broken, and I didn’t want to hear that again. Thinking about myself as spiritually whole, I told my mom I didn’t want to go to the doctor, and she said OK. Immediately I felt stronger. We both knew this was the right choice because I felt so much relief.

For a few days, I wore the splint that the mountain biking team had given me, but because of our prayers, I didn’t need it for long. During that time, I still went outside and played. I knew I was fully healed a few weeks later when we went tubing behind our speedboat and I could hold on with no problem. I even asked the driver to drive faster!

I knew I was fully healed a few weeks later when we went tubing behind our speedboat and I could hold on with no problem.

It felt so right to refuse to believe that I was broken. I knew that was nothing more than a false claim about me, and I wanted to hold on to what was spiritually true. A statement by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, describes what is spiritually true about everyone, including me. She writes, “Man’s origin and existence being in Him [God], man is the ultimatum of perfection, and by no means the medium of imperfection” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 79).

The crux of this healing is that I know that I am a complete expression of God and that I am spiritual, so I cannot be broken. By standing up for my freedom, I was able to have a free and full summer.