Prompt healing after bike accident

One afternoon when I was visiting my college roommate for the weekend, we decided to take a bike ride down a country road. As we were pedaling away, I applied the brakes on my bike and was suddenly catapulted over the handlebars. I recall thinking that I must keep my chin up, which I did, but I landed heavily on one arm and skidded a bit before stopping. When I got myself up, I found that my hand was scraped and bleeding and my wrist seemed injured. 

My roommate’s mother witnessed my fall from her kitchen window and rushed outside, quite concerned. As she was approaching us, I told my roommate I needed a few minutes to pray. I began walking in the other direction down the road, turning my thought away from the scene and toward the truth of my real, spiritual being. I knew that despite any evidence of the physical senses to the contrary, man is always safe in God’s care. 

I recall thinking of what Mary Baker Eddy says in the Christian Science textbook about exclaiming “I am hurt!” when an accident happens: “Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 397). I also thought about a statement further along in the book: “Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God’s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony” (p. 424). 

During those few moments of quiet that I had to myself, there was an adjustment in my wrist. The shock of what had occurred was being replaced by the peace I felt from my prayers. 

Soon I was ready to return to my roommate and her mother. My roommate’s parents helped clean me up, and we wound some strips of clean white cloth around my hand. Although the family was still concerned, I felt confident that I was all right. 

Later on we all came together at the dinner table, and I was able to join in. That evening the stiffness in my fingers disappeared. I even sat down at their piano and played a bit, which alleviated the parents’ concern. 

Eventually, the scar from the mishap faded along with the vivid memory of the incident. Before long, there was no evidence to see and no further trouble from the hand or wrist.

When this incident occurred, I was about twenty years old and away from home for the first time. What I had learned in the Christian Science Sunday School I attended while growing up aided me in my time of need. I was able to call upon favorite statements from Science and Health I’d learned, such as this one from pages 260 and 261: “If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit, we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action. Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.”

This experience was special to me because I didn’t have my family to lean on. Turning directly to God and declaring these truths brought about the healing. I’m very grateful to recall how my quiet communing with God brought such sure and quick results.

Joy Albins
Fairfield Glade, Tennessee, US