Healed after auto accident

While doing an errand with my two teenage children several years ago, I turned off the highway onto a side street and waited for a car opposite to me to turn so I could turn left. Since there were no other cars, and the car was almost out of my way, I began to move into the intersection—but the car unexpectedly stopped in front of me. As I started to go around it, we were broadsided by another car traveling at high speed. 

The next thing I knew, my son was waking me up, asking if I was OK. I told him yes and asked if we had been hit. (Thankfully, both of my children were just fine.) I woke up again when paramedics were trying to get me out of the car, then again when I was in the ambulance, and after that in a hospital emergency room.

While the doctors talked about doing an MRI scan and surgery, I started repeating aloud “the scientific statement of being” from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. It begins, “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter” and ends, “Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual” (p. 468).

My dad in Dallas had already been called by the head nurse and told that if he wanted to see me alive, he needed to come right away, since they didn’t expect me to survive the night. They said I had serious internal injuries in addition to a broken and fractured hip, four broken ribs, and a punctured lung.

My dad called his family (all are Christian Scientists) in Georgia for prayerful support. He also called a Christian Science practitioner to give Christian Science treatment through prayer. 

I spent a week in the hospital, but was given no medication. It was so helpful thinking about the fact that God made me in His image and likeness. Bible stories of healing and protection, particularly those in the New Testament about Jesus and his disciples, came to mind, and were so inspiring. Having been raised in Christian Science, I knew from experience that Christian Science heals quickly and completely, and I had no doubt that I would be fully healed. It was quiet in my room, and I prayed with “the scientific statement of being,” slowly thinking it through. At first I had some trouble breathing, but later I passed a breathing test, and the doctor decided surgery was not needed for any of the injuries.

He agreed to release me to go home, but only by transferring my case to a doctor near my home. When my stepdaughter took me to see this new doctor, I overheard her ask if I would ever walk again. The doctor said he didn’t know. That was in February.

In April I returned to work using a walker. My employer wanted to give me a handicap sticker for parking, but holding to the truth that I am God’s whole and perfect spiritual image and likeness, I responded that I was not handicapped. While at home, however, I couldn’t seem to hold a book in order to read. So, my dad printed out that week’s Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly for me. The subject of that Lesson was “Man,” which was a wonderful study for me and contributed to my healing, since I could read it anytime. Having grown up attending Christian Science Sunday School, I could also sing to myself the hymns I loved. It was like being in church. 

By June my healing was complete. I walked down the aisle for my stepdaughter’s wedding wearing high heels. I am immensely grateful for God, for Christ Jesus, and for Mary Baker Eddy’s receptivity to this healing Science and devotion to sharing it with the world.

Liz Smith
Mineola, Texas, US