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One day in 1985, while I was out shopping, suddenly
my thought turned from my pursuit of things to furnish my home, and I knew I had to go directly home. In the car, I found
myself praying for my two children, until finally I felt my thought so elevated and joyful and free. In my mind's eye, I can
see so clearly where I was at that very moment. It was at the Hartsdale train station.
When I arrived home in White Plains, my husband called to me from the living room that the police had called and told him
that our two children had collided with a car after riding their bikes down a hill in Scarsdale. I walked to the telephone
in our bedroom to call a Christian Science practitioner for prayerful support. Before I even picked up the telephone, the
thought came to me that this was going to be to the glory of God, and only good would come from it! I left a message for the
practitioner, and we drove to White Plains Hospital.
In the emergency room, our two children seemed to be subdued, but they were awake. I informed the Hospital that I was a Christian
Scientist, which they respected. At no time was it necessary to do anything for the children medically other than to monitor
them. We did reach the practitioner while we were at the Hospital, and she began to support us.
Other than a laceration on my daughter's leg, there didn't appear to be any great concern. The children seemed to be shaken,
but intact. I felt everything was in God's control. We were told that they had to remain overnight, and I arranged for a cot
so I could stay beside our seven-year-old son.
Our fifteen-year-old daughter was put into another room, and after seeing that she was settled there, I didn't see her again
until the next morning. I felt certain that she was alright.
My son had said to us, "I fell asleep on my bike," and the doctor then expressed the concern that my son might have a concussion.
At that moment, a truth that I had memorized from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy,
came to me: Both Science and consciousness are now at work in the economy of being according to the law of Mind, which
ultimately asserts its absolute supremacy.
No more was said about a concussion. This powerful truth instantly rendered the concussion an impossibility. In fact, my son
had a peaceful sleep in the hospital that night.
At one point, a nurse told me that they had to monitor the children's vital signs every hour to ascertain that they could
come to consciousness. The forethought, or promise, came to me that every time this monitoring was to take place, a good report
would be written.
At about 10:00 in the evening, the nurse couldn't rouse my son. I said to her, "He's sleeping peacefully. This is expected
in Christian Science treatment [the peace, that is]." She didn't waken him again that night.
Early the next morning, my husband called to tell me that the doctor had told him that he would be in to check the children
around nine o'clock. He said that if he determined that they were alright, they could go home. This was proof to me that the
promise of a good report was indeed fulfilled. And the children were released from the hospital as expected, to their grateful
and joyful parents.
We later learned at the police station from reading the report of the accident that our son's head had hit the window of the
car when he was thrown from his bike during the collision.
After we returned home, during the evening (I can't recall whether it was the first or second evening back home) while he
was sleeping, my son began crying for a while. My husband, who was not a Christian Scientist, took him the next day to the
doctor, who found that he had a condition that required a cast for his arm. He wore this cast with a sling for a short period,
without any apparent discomfort, and he was his usual happy self. A week or two later the sling was removed. I had forgotten
all about this when I first wrote this piece, because I had not been impressed by it. There was no question to me as to the
completeness of the healing, despite this physical condition.
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Soon our daughter returned to school, after summer vacation was over. She boarded during the week and returned home on the
weekend. During her first weekend home, she told me that in Bible class she had told the class about the collision and that
she had seen her body lying down on the ground. She said that she didn't know where she was, but she heard the ambulance driver
talking to her. Then she said she felt the ambulance driver's hand, and she came back. She said that her teacher said that
she came back because God has a purpose for her here.
For me, this episode was a tremendous religious experience. Mrs. Eddy, in referring to Jesus' awaking of "...Lazarus from
the dream, illusion of death...," says on page 493 of
Science and Health, "Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the power and willingness of divine Mind to hold
man forever intact in his perfect state, and to govern man's entire action?" This lesson taught me well, there can be no doubt!
God, and God alone, is the one Life of all men, even as it was proven to me that day.
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