Healing on a ski trip

During a testimony meeting at my local Christian Science branch church, someone shared the following quote from Science and Health: “Metaphysics is above physics, and matter does not enter into metaphysical premises or conclusions” (Science and Health, p. 269). I’d read this quote many times, yet at that moment, the meaning of it came alive. It became clear to me that metaphysics was the answer, and that matter didn’t even enter into the equation when it came to the ultimate reality of life.

A few weeks later, in early spring of 2006, I was skiing with my kids and some of their friends in Lake Tahoe, California. The conditions were awesome, and we were having a wonderful time. It was late in the day when we found some jumps and began to “push the envelope” by challenging ourselves to go higher and farther. On the highest and farthest jump, I ended up losing control and landed flat on my back. As I slid down the mountain, temporarily gasping for breath, I remember thinking: “I’m OK!”

As a student of Christian Science, I’d been brought up to immediately pray in tough situations. And so, to me, “I’m OK!” meant that regardless of what was going on, I was completely safe with God. I could never be outside of His loving presence. When I came to a stop, my son and daughter snowboarded over to check on me. As one who has always advocated the benefits of Christian Science to them, I felt that this was an opportunity to “practice what I preached” and turn to prayer for healing. And as an avid sports lover, I’d had many sports-related healings over the years and knew that I could effectively rely on Christian Science treatment.

The ski patrol soon arrived and wanted to take me down the mountain on a sled to get checked out by a medic. I declined, and said that I wanted to get back on my skis and complete the run. One of them expressed concern that I might have broken my back, and didn’t want me to move. But after a brief conversation, I signed some release papers and the ski patrol left. At that point, I was fighting off heartbreaking thoughts like “you’ll never ski again,” “your athletic days are over,” “you’ve broken your back,” and so on. But in my prayers, I replaced these fears with the confidence that God was caring for me. It felt as if the healing process had already begun.

My kids and I soon skied down the mountain, and though I was in pain, I kept affirming the spiritual fact that I was OK and unharmed. Since it was late in the day, the whole gang didn’t mind heading home.

When we arrived at our cabin, I lay down, but my back felt very painful and I was nauseous. I just couldn’t seem to find a comfortable position. And then it dawned on me that I was attempting to get comfortable in matter, but the real need was for me to continue to see myself as entirely spiritual. Right then, I called a Christian Science practitioner to ask for prayerful support. My kids and their friends also stayed close by and read to me from Science and Health as well as from the Christian Science magazines. Even though the pain and nausea intensified, I stuck with my prayers. At one particularly low point, my son held the phone up to my ear as the Christian Science practitioner firmly, yet lovingly, shared spiritual truths with me. Very quickly after that, the nausea left, the pain subsided, and I was actually able to rest. We all watched a movie that night and I slept well on a sofa, facing a beautiful fire in the fireplace.

Since skiing is one of my passions in life, and this incident happened on our first day of what was to be a six-day adventure, I was disappointed. Yet, when I awoke the next morning, I knew I needed to continue with my spiritual study. The kids took off for the day and I stayed in our cabin with my books, the Bible and Science and Health.

I went back to that passage from Science and Health, repeated in that memorable testimony at church, “Metaphysics is above physics.” I thought of some of the spiritual qualities that a back represents, like uprightness and strength. By focusing on these qualities I was exchanging “the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul” (Science and Health, p. 269). I concluded that if a back expressed uprightness and strength, then there could be no change or injury to these spiritual qualities that constituted who I was. As I sat on the deck that day, soaking up the sun, I realized how much I’d been enjoying learning about metaphysics.

While the kids skied the rest of the week, I continued with my spiritual study. On a few days, I sat at the bottom of the mountain watching all the activity as I prayed. My mobility steadily increased. I was tempted to try to ski later that week, but instead, I listened to that still small voice of wisdom—God’s guidance—that said “there will be many more days of skiing for you; just keep studying and learning for now.” In fact, I look back on that trip as one of my favorite ski trips, even though I only skied on the first day.

A few weeks after the incident, I was moving around normally enough to go for a run. The first few steps of that run were exciting because I knew I’d been healed and was free. Before long I was back to playing sports on a regular basis and have had no problems at all since.

One of the most rewarding parts of this experience was that my kids and their friends witnessed the healing. Thank goodness for the practicality of Christian Science!

Glenn Johnson | Exeter, New Hampshire, US