Speaker: The experience of our guest today presents convincing evidence that there is a power surpassing all human aid — the divine power, ever present and available in all circumstances. Mrs. Dorothy Patterson, of Scottsdale, Arizona, formerly of Cleveland, Ohio, wasn't expected to survive serious and extensive injuries. Later, her husband was told that if she did recover, she'd spend the rest of her life in a wheel chair. But she did recover completely through reliance on God alone, and she's going to tell you about it.

What were the circumstances, Mrs. Patterson?

Mrs. Patterson: It happened after I'd driven my husband to the airport very early one morning. I didn't wait to see the plane off. It was wartime, and I had Red Cross work to do. And so I started back and had all the windows rolled up because it was sleeting. I saw a train quite a way up to the left and thought it was on the overhead track . But there was another track that crossed the road, and the train took that one. I just didn't hear or see the signals. I didn't realize the train was approaching until I was about fifty feet from the tracks.

I threw on the brakes and went into a skid on the icy brick pavement and lost control of the car. The car was thrown against the drive shaft of the locomotive. I must have been thrown out of the car, because all the tangled mass of the car came down on top of me. The impact was terrific. And I remember thinking, This is the end. But right away I remember saying out loud, "God is right here; God is right here."

I had a conviction of God's everpresence. I didn't lose consciousness, not even for a moment, and I feel this was due to the sustaining power of what I'd been studying in the Christian Science Lesson-Sermon [from the Christian Science Quarterly]. The subject that week was "Mind," and it had been very clear to me, each time I'd read it, that divine Mind, or God, is the source of all true consciousness. And this true consciousness can't ever be damaged or destroyed.

The road had been deserted when the accident happened, but two men suddenly appeared. The car was so heavy they couldn't lift it completely, but then others came along and lifted the whole car off my head and body.

I was able to give details of my husband's plane, and a police car radioed the information; so they were able to stop the plane just as it was about to take off. My husband came, and they took me to a little hospital nearby. I asked my husband to call a Christian Science practitioner, and she began to pray earnestly for me. It was such a small hospital, so few facilities, that they decided to move me that day to Cleveland. Because of the injuries, the ambulance drove at only five miles an hour, with those accompanying me hoping I'd live to make it. But at no time did I feel any pain.

My husband was told I'd be in the hospital indefinitely, with little hope of recovery. X rays showed a fractured skull, broken collarbone, and there were very severe facial Injuries. The pelvis was broken in four places; my legs were fractured; and these injuries were so severe that the bones couldn't even be set. Later on my husband was told that even if I lived, I'd be in a wheel chair the rest of my life. But it never occurred to me I wouldn't come through all right. I had complete confidence in God's infinite healing power.

I had no medication in the hospital. But the practitioner continued to help me through prayer, and I was greatly encouraged. But I was still unable to move any part of my body.

At the end of three weeks, my husband signed me out of the hospital, taking full responsibility. It was very difficult to move me, but we wanted to work this out through Christian Science and felt this was the right step. I had a Christian Science nurse at home, and the practitioner came to see me regularly.

There began to be noticeable improvement, and on Thanksgiving Day I sat up (the accident had happened the last day of October). About the middle of December I took my first step, then another, and then another. Then on Christmas Day we went out to dinner, and I was walking.

Very soon I went back to my Red Cross work and War Relief work. Later on I volunteered for work in a war plant where they needed help badly. I served as an apprentice on a screw machine. I worked midnight shifts, seven days a week, eight hours a day, standing all the time, using foot pedals. It was a wonderful healing. There's no impairment, and there have been no ill effects. More recently I've done a lot of horseback riding in Arizona with perfect freedom. The doctor gave full credit to Christian Science for the healing.

My whole life has really been made over since I took up the study of Christian Science. I've had not only physical healings, but some other marvelous experiences. On one occasion a very serious business problem was completely worked out through the understanding of Christian Science at a time when it looked as if we were going to lose everything through bankruptcy. Christian Science has shown me how to put God first in my life, and this has meant everything to me.

Speaker: Thank you ever so much, Mrs. Patterson. Your healing brings the practical import of Christ Jesus' teaching into presentday focus. And it confirms the prophet Isaiah's tender assurance of God's loving care, "It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."

Friends, right from the instant the accident happened, our guest was able to depend on God. She immediately declared God's everpresence and relied on His help. And it's plain her prayer was answered. She survived and was completely restored to health, even though her injuries had seemed beyond all hope.

The explanation is that she glimpsed something utterly beyond what the human mind could offer. It was a glimpse of pure reality, the reality of perfect God and of man's real being as the image and likeness of God, complete, eternal, indestructible.

In that hour of urgent need, Mrs. Patterson steadfastly denied the suggestion of impending death. When she declared out loud, "God is right here," it was not just words she was voicing. It was a clear conviction of what those words meant, a conviction gained from her study of Christian Science and the understanding of God it brought her. This is what sustained her.

It's a wonderful thing to know that God is immortal, divine Mind, the source of all true consciousness. From this it follows that man's true consciousness can never be lost, impaired, or destroyed, since man is the idea or image of God.

The understanding of God reveals many other strengthening, life-giving truths regarding the real nature of man. This is so, because "man is the expression of God's being," as Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 470). For instance, the Scriptures tell us that God is eternal Life, and in reality man must forever express this Life. He expresses it in spiritual strength, perfect action, perfect coordination.

When we open our thought to these spiritual truths, hold on to them steadfastly, live what they teach, then we are making way for the power of God to operate in our experience.

This was what happened in Mrs. Patterson's case. Her keen awareness of these divine truths uplifted her thought and supported her. Her spiritual conviction of God's everpresent power to heal her was a bridge that enabled her to go beyond the human evidence to the divine reality of her being . As a result of this spiritual understanding, the strengthening, life-giving power of God was manifested in complete healing.

An experience like this gives clear evidence that the mighty power and love of God are present and available at all times, available to you and me. As we gain a correct understanding of God and of our true self, we can experience more and more the eternal harmony and perfection that belong to the sons and daughters of God. We can feel and know and experience the healing power of divine Truth and Love. This power brings strength in place of weakness, wholeness in place of injury, life instead of death.

Mrs. Eddy brings out the healing effects of this true understanding in Science and Health. She writes (p. 14): "Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth. This understanding casts out error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak 'as one having authority.'"

The musical selection on the program was Hymn No. 115 from the Christian Science Hymnal (Holy Father, Thou hast taught us).

Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that i am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I. even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. — Isaiah 43 : 10-12.