I am very grateful to know that God is available wherever we are, and in every circumstance. I saw God’s protecting, guiding power more clearly than ever before this past January. As a child, one of my favorite winter activities was sledding down the big hill in my parents’ backyard. Now my children are just old enough to enjoy my parents’ big sledding hill, too. So one January morning, my young son and daughter decided to go sledding.

As I was preparing breakfast that morning, the words “harmony” and “intact” came to me. I knew they came from somewhere in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and I looked them up before we left for Grandma’s house. I found this statement on page 521: “The harmony and immortality of man are intact.” To me that means that no matter what the condition or circumstance, God is governing me, and all of us, completely, correctly, and harmoniously. 

All bundled up against the cold, we headed out to my parents’ back hill. It’s a great hill for all ages with a gradual slope on one side—we call it our “bunny hill”—and a steep hill on the other. If you aim your sled just right, it’s possible to go down the steep hill and slide straight across a small frozen pond and up the opposite bank. But that last part isn’t something we let the kids do. 

That day, my four-year-old daughter took her turn down the bunny hill alone, and had started walking back up. My mom was just getting my three-year-old son, Ethan, ready to go down the bunny hill. She pushed him off, and the thought came to me to chase after him. I kept an eye on his sled as I ran, and watched as he made a sudden 90 degree turn at the bottom of the hill. Ethan’s sled went down over a second small hill onto the ice-covered pond. Two large circles of unfrozen water remained in the middle, so he fell into the open water and lay crying for help face up on his back in the water.

Despite the picture in front of me, I didn’t feel afraid, since I had seen many times in my life that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1). I actually felt calm. My first instinct as I was running the last few feet to the edge of the pond was, “Don’t go in. Throw a rope.” We kept a donut-shaped life preserver, attached to a rope, at the pond’s edge in winter and summer. But immediately after this, came the clear thought, “Just go in.” I yelled to my son, “You’re OK! Mommy’s coming!” 

I walked out onto the ice about 15 feet toward the open water, and when I broke through, I started swimming. It was just a few feet to get to my son. I grabbed his collar and started swimming back, doing the backstroke, and crashing back through the thin ice behind me with my arms. I was too busy watching my son, and, consequently, my aim was bad. I had to literally swim a new and longer path back to shore through the ice.

At one point I started to feel tired. I could hear my mom on the shore yelling at me to swim, but it was so cold. I later learned that she’d had the same first thought as I had, to go get a life preserver. But divine Mind was clearly guiding her, too. Because her second thought, similar to mine, was to stay near me at the shore rather than running around the pond to get the life preserver. I was so grateful she stayed, because I started to sink. I felt I just couldn’t swim anymore in the frigid water. So my mom waded into the water up to her chest, reached out for my collar and pulled me in until I could stand.

I stood up and tried to pick up my son to carry him back up the hill, but I couldn’t. My mom stated very firmly out loud, “God is Love” and then, “God is my strength.” She had the idea to put Ethan on the sled and pull him up the hill. Mom was singing Hymn 304 from the Christian Science Hymnal. “Shepherd, show me how to go, O’er the hillside steep” (Mary Baker Eddy).

Despite the picture in front of me, I didn’t feel afraid, since I had seen many times in my life that “God is our refuge and strength..."

When I had crawled to the top of the little hill, I remembered what my mom had said about God being my strength and was able to stand up on my feet. Mom was resting in the snow for a few moments, but I knew I had to quickly get my son up the hill and into the house. My daughter, I knew, would follow shortly with my mom. 

So with Ethan on the sled, I put the sled’s rope around my waist, since my hands couldn’t grip it, and I sang hymns out loud all the way up the hill. I crossed the backyard and went into the house in full dripping-wet snow gear. At first, I was having trouble using my hands to take off my son’s wet snow clothes, but no one else was around since my mother and daughter were still making their way up the hill. 

Hymn 148 came to me and this helped as I sang it out loud to my son and myself. 

In heavenly Love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear; 
And safe is such confiding, 
For nothing changes here. 
The storm may roar without me, 
My heart may low be laid; 
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed?
(Anna L. Waring)

My son had stopped crying by then, but was still shivering. I felt sure that even though the temperature had changed, God’s care and love for us hadn’t changed and couldn’t change.

Soon we were both in a hot bath. While I was in the tub, the thought came to me, “Now, there doesn’t have to be any bad effects from this incident.” God’s care had never changed. Just then my mom came into the bathroom and said, “You know there can’t be any aftereffects from this.” Divine Mind was comforting and reassuring both of us.

Though Ethan was unharmed and had no aftereffects from the incident, for the rest of the day I was wheezing while I breathed. By the next morning, I knew I needed to pray specifically about this. Two helpful ideas came to me. First, the fact that man’s harmony is intact was not just a promise to Ethan, but a promise to me, too. Second, while reading the Bible story of David and Goliath, I was struck by the fearlessness of David as he prepared to face the enemy. Despite the evidence before him of the enemy’s size, the mockery from this enemy, and even his own countrymen’s fear for him, he ran to meet the foe (see I Samuel 17). No feelings of inadequacy had power to take over since David’s confidence was in God. I could be confident in God in the same way. The wheezing left by the end of that day. 

Days later, I was tempted several times to replay the incident over and over and think, “What if . . . ?” I realized that instead of doing that, I could affirm each time that divine Mind had been guiding and directing me. Each time I was tempted to think, “What if . . . ?” I held to the fact that divine Love had, in fact, been right there on the scene. 

The idea that had come to me that morning about man’s harmony being intact was God’s promise of complete protection to me and to my mother and son. It’s a promise to each of us as we listen to God.

From Joan Beringer (Ethan’s grandmother):

I would like to attest to all that my daughter has written. I was very surprised when Ethan’s sled made an unusual turn for the pond. That morning I had done a considerable amount of study thinking about a Bible verse in First Chronicles 29:12 from the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson. It stated “and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.” 

By the time I got inside the house, my daughter and Ethan were already there. I was able to go quickly and pour a bath of warm water for Ethan to play in, a normal happy activity at Nana’s. His mother brought him from the shower, where she had been warming him up. My daughter lifted Ethan into the tub, where he could see a few of his favorite toys, and she climbed in to be with him. At this point I had the strength to challenge the picture that his coloring was not normal. I asked God to let me see what He sees about Ethan. A sentence from Science and Health came to me: “Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and reflects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color” (p. 247). When I came back to the bathroom with towels, a very short time later, Ethan’s normal coloring had returned. 

My daughter and I spent the day gratefully rejoicing in God’s saving grace, for the presence of Mind to hear God’s voice and follow His direction, and to know that harmony was always intact. We were also grateful for Heidi’s calm thought, and to be able to proclaim our right to be safe and free from accidents. God’s expression of Mother-love for Her sweet little ones will always be a reason for rejoicing.