During a visit with some friends in their new house, while we were inspecting the backyard, I jumped up on a two-foot-high concrete block garden wall to get a better view. Suddenly the wall collapsed, leaving a deep wound in my ankle and foot and apparently injuring a bone. Embarrassment, fear, and pain engulfed me. I felt embarrassed to have defaced our friend's lovely yard and afraid that I might never be able to freely participate in my favorite sports again—especially racquetball—or even to continue with our plans for an extensive vacation. Most urgent, however, was the need to stop the pain and bleeding.

I began to pray. Prayer for me has come to take a variety of forms. This time I quietly affirmed my inseparable, perfect relationship with God. "The scientific statement of being," found in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, was the foundation of this prayer. The last sentence focused thought clearly on my (man's) real nature (p. 468): "Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."

I saw that this picture of injury was no part of my existence as the intact, spiritual manifestation of God, ever-present good. I recognized that man could never be separated or severed from good and that what was really needed was a clearer view of body as the embodiment of spiritual qualities—such as activity, love, and power—which are never in or dependent on matter for life.

That afternoon I felt free enough to join the family on a seventy-five mile trip we'd planned in order to visit some friends. Before leaving we carefully washed and covered the wound. And on the way we sang hymns together and shared truths of man's spiritual nature as revealed through the study of Christian Science. By the time we arrived all bleeding had stopped. However, the pain had become intense, so I called a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer. As we talked, I began to sense a gentle stillness and knew that this calm assurance was the influence of the Christ, an awareness of God as right there with me. I felt very grateful and was confident of healing. That evening during the trip home, I was able to ride sitting upright the entire time.

Two days later, I was even freer from pain than before, and we began a three-thousand-mile vacation trip during which I did most of the driving. We enjoyed mule rides, wading in swift mountain streams and rivers, and climbing vertical caves and Indian ruins— all done in freedom and with the foot showing signs of continued healing.

At one point, there was some evidence of infection. So we stopped at a camping area, and the family went off to enjoy a cool swim while I dived into prayer and research of the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health. I felt I needed a fuller understanding of man's purity and completeness, a realization of these spiritual qualities as the tangible truth of my existence right where I was, then and there.

A passage from Science and Health provided new inspiration (p. 162): "Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies.... The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind." This jolted me out of complacency—a feeling that eventually nature would take its course. I was stirred to radically replace trust in matter—in air, exercise, sunlight, blood, tissue—with complete trust in God for healing. If I really understood that matter (i.e., the wall) had no ability to injure man—the man of God's creating—then neither could material conditions help or heal me!

Later, on the page just referred to in Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy recalls some of the results of her own Christianly scientific prayer: "Secretions have been changed, the structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions." This passage brought me a great deal of reassurance.

I also reread Luke's account of Jesus, who readily showed his disciples his mended hands and feet after the crucifixion (24:38-40). This to me was convincing proof of the effectiveness of mental surgery. It was Jesus' understanding of the Christ—his whole spiritual identity, always present with God—that enabled him to demonstrate a normally functioning body following the crucifixion. He said (John 10:30), "I and my Father are one." This was exactly the recognition I needed: to understand that nothing could enter my being and pollute or contaminate its pure, Godlike nature. Soon all my fear concerning the outcome of the case was gone.

Paul writes in I Corinthians (6:20), "Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." I also knew that God is good always and in all ways, and that this was the truth of my life. As Mrs. Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook (p. 242): "The divine Science of man is woven into one web of consistency without seam or rent. Mere speculation or superstition appropriates no part of the divine vesture, while inspiration restores every part of the Christly garment of righteousness."

Within four weeks I was walking normally. The wound had closed completely, and I was able to resume vigorous racquetball competition.

Our family has had many wonderful healings resulting from the application of Christian Science. Bruises, severe burns, and deep lacerations have all been healed quickly and without stitches or surgery.

Four generations of our family have honored and trusted the fact that "with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26). For the many proofs we've had of the efficacy of universal divine Science and for the blessings to come, I am sincerely grateful.

KENNETH W. EGGERT Natick, Massachusetts