During a polo match last summer, a participant was suddenly thrown from her horse to the ground. The woman was taken to the hospital where she was X-rayed. There were several broken vertebrae, a couple bruised ribs and some kind of pain associated with the hip.
The woman called for Christian Science help six days later.
After taking a moment to become acquainted with the woman and everything that had occurred, I asked her about medication. And, yes, she admitted that more than a few drugs, painkillers, were being employed.
I asked if she’d be willing to rely completely on Christian Science. She was willing. She wanted to trust that God, and God only, could help her. She stopped taking medication that day.
Right away, the approach was love. Love, divine Love, was her real source of being; not a fragile or broken (or even painful) human physique, not a dramatic fall, not what the doctors said or forecasted regarding her recovery. We turned completely away from all material evidence, predictions or history and really began whole-heartedly, whole-mindedly to look towards and “into Truth and Love, the divine Principle of all happiness, harmony, immortality” – including her real state of present perfect health.
The doctors and therapists had insisted on a long rehab at a facility. She went home instead. In short order many buried burdens began to surface and lift off: family strife, the raising of a niece who seemed ungrateful for what her aunt had done to take her in and resentful of her authority; complications in her business affairs; and, most importantly, a self-view that had become depressed, self-abusive and living a life not as fulfilling as it once at least seemed to be. In fact, she had been having regular sessions with a psychologist, which she ended up cancelling three weeks into working in C.S. Three and a half weeks later, she was up and walking.
All sorts of issues, hidden falsehoods, were being exposed. The tares amongst the wheat were gradually becoming obvious – separate and apart from all the good she had done and was doing. The false or self-deceiving patterns were being sifted out and burned off by Truth and Love. She began to experience a whole new structure of Truth and Love as her primary mental and anatomical sense of being. She returned to attending a CS church on Sundays.
After much progress Spiritward, she rode a horse later that autumn, taught a few riding classes and now has played in a couple of full-on polo matches. Her relationship with her niece and family have improved greatly. She’s more of a groundbreaker in a family that has loved CS but not really taken it to the level upon which radical change, transformation and true harmony abound. She’s become the example, for all of them, of what can transpire from a newly awakened and activated devotion and trust in Science.
I called her just a few days ago to review the details of her experience to share here, and there were two major points she felt made all the difference in working this out in Science. 1.) She learned just how immediate, comforting and all-encompassing is the statement: “There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear.” This has been a real ongoing game-changer in her life. 2.) She felt a total sense of love in communicating with a practitioner. In previous experiences, she said things just didn’t “click” for her. She felt a distance and was left a bit cold by, shall we say, a more “letter-only” approach. In this latest instance, she felt she could talk, share freely, whatever it was that needed to be “put off” without feeling judged or looked down upon. There was a joy and lightness and actually a sense of humor in approaching the work that she hadn’t experienced before.
She said this way wasn’t “too lenient” or like a strict “you should” way, but had a more liberated sense of encouragement, like “you’ll love being obedient to these ideas because of the freedom it will bring to your life.” To her, this felt a more natural way to learn and rely upon the Principle of the practice and let Truth do the work – through Love. It reduced and eventually erased all fear, engendered trust that prayer could be effective in the work, and ultimately made her more confident to let Love, divine Mind, be the surgeon, too.
At present, this woman gives riding lessons, is arranging a new major polo tournament in her region of the country, and a second niece may eventually come to live with her for her last two years of high school, now that the first niece graduated at the top of her class, is off to college, and has acknowledged how grateful she is to have her aunt as one of her best friends.