Faith | Whack! He was injured, but could prayer help in an emergency?

It was not what I expected to happen!

After practicing my tennis strokes with a ball machine, I rolled the machine off court to its storage place. On the wall is housing for a long industrial electrical cord that powers the equipment. I punched the retract button. The cord whizzes into the housing at warp speed.

On the end of the cord is a hefty multi-unit socket that wildly hit the wall, bounced off the housing and whacked me on the head.

“Ow!” I cried out.

The whack was a surprise I didn’t see coming.

Reeling from the blow, I got myself composed, decided I am fine, and walk back on court to collect my belongings.

After a few steps, though, I feel liquid pouring down my cheek. I put my hand to my face and pulled it away covered in blood from the tip of my fingers to the bottom of my palm. I was bleeding profusely from the wound to my head.

My first worry was a class of young children on the next court. They would scream in horror if they saw me, I was certain.

But what to do? The bleeding is a gusher.

With my back to the children, I walked toward a box of tissues on a bench close by. I also reach out to God in prayer for help.

As I prayed, I remembered a favorite verse from the Old Testament in the Bible, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Isa. 59:19, KJV). The enemy of the moment is a flood of fear and blood. The words, “The Lord will lift up a standard against him,” brought me comfort, reminding me that God is present to stop the flood of fear and blood from overwhelming me.

In striving to feel more of the divine control, I knew from my study of Christian Science that what we think impacts what we experience in the body. With a few short words, Jesus Christ restored ailing bodies to health, and he promised his followers could learn to do the same.

As my heart reached out for God’s help to stop the bleeding, I recalled Jesus saying to those who believed his teachings, “I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20, KJV). Confident that the same healing power at work through Jesus Christ is present to help me, I issue the command, “The bleeding stops now!”

Calm took over. My fear vanished.

Reaching the bench, I grabbed tissues to clean up the mess of blood on my hands and face. Sitting down, I applied a tissue to the wound on my head. As I checked the tissue to see what is happening, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to see no new blood.

None.

The bleeding had stopped instantaneously.

I cleaned myself up the best I could and walked off court unnoticed by the children, rejoicing in God’s care every step of the way.

The wound healed rapidly with no after-effects. My heart overflowed with gratitude for God’s ever-present help.