A lovely moment in a Christian Science healing comes when fear gives way to a complete trust in God and in His unchangeable laws of life. In Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, we read (p. 392): "To cure a bodily ailment, every broken moral law should be taken into account and the error be rebuked. Fear, which is an element of all disease, must be cast out to readjust the balance for God." Our family witnessed just such an adjustment last year in an experience with our four-year-old son.

My husband and a friend while painting the outside of our house had removed the screens from the second story to paint the windows. I went out shopping after dinner and returned much later. My husband told me that our son had fallen out of his bedroom window from the second floor, while looking out, not knowing the screen was gone. My husband had carried him back upstairs to bed; and though there was no evidence of broken bones, the child was half-conscious and was breathing with difficulty.

So many healing thoughts flowed into my consciousness! I felt very much at ease when I gratefully turned the child over to his true Father and Mother, God. I knew that God knew far more about this dear child of His and far better how to care for him than I did. I felt a calm, joyful sense of God's presence and the completeness of His divine control. I was so sure of the allness of divine Love that the picture of our son's fall completely left my thoughts and I knew the physical healing would follow.

We sang hymns to him and reminded him of the simple truths he had learned and trusted of God's being everywhere, encircling him in love. As we sang, I thought of all the times I'd heard testimonies about children who were healed of effects of falling accidents, and how grateful I was for all the good shared in those testimonies! I was not surprised when our son began to breathe normally; and before he fell asleep, he said he knew that God was always holding him and was always around him.

At that point my husband was overcome with guilt about not having put the screens back on, even though the paint was wet. I assured him that there was no cause for blame. We need not accept a suggestion that there was a time, a moment, when divine Mind was not in operation or when we were at the mercy of human intelligence, which sometimes errs.

We prayed until we both knew the healing would be complete and that the child could not suffer from the memory of something which didn't really happen. He could only retain the good from any experience.

Once the fear had been removed, I knew the healing had taken place. The next morning, at the usual time, the boy awoke, raced in from his room to greet us brightly, and then played happily with his sister all morning without mentioning the incident. Later in the day when we were looking out his bedroom window, he pointed to where he'd fallen and said, "Look, Mom, down there—that's where God was." And that was all he ever said about the whole thing! There has been no evidence of injury. This was the most complete and immediate healing in which I've ever shared.

I'm deeply thankful for all good. Christian Science helps us discover so many blessings in all our experiences, no matter what form they take. I'm grateful, too, for the Christian Science Sunday School, where our little ones can learn as early as possible these wonderful truths of God and of themselves as His ideas!

(Mrs.) Elaine G. Swaffar
West Hartford, Connecticut

I can confirm the healing of our son with joy! I was much comforted by remembering the story of St. Paul's raising from the dead the young man who fell from the third story loft (Acts 20: 19–12). Our son was not dead, but the healing power understood and practiced by Paul was certainly available to us for use in this situation, and the end result was the same—we "were not a little comforted." I am comforted by Christian Science and the knowledge that God protects and guides me and my family and all.

Jerry L. Swaffar