Testimony of Healing July 26, 2010 Issue

'THE LORD SHALL COVER HIM'

GAIL BERNARD with contributions from MICHAEL BERNARD

Some years ago, when my teenage son, Michael, owned a dirt bike, we had a most remarkable evidence of God's presence and protection.

Leading up to this experience, I had been reading the Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly, and the following words from Deuteronomy 33:12 quite literally stopped me in my tracks: "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders." It was as if this statement grabbed hold of me and would not let go. I could read no farther. It finally came to me to copy it onto index cards, giving one to each of my three children and placing one before me over the kitchen sink, where I would see it most.

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During that day and all of the next, I felt like I was cast in the armor of those words. That evening, as I was cooking supper, Michael walked in. I knew he had been riding his dirt bike with a friend that afternoon. He opened his mouth to talk to me but no words came out. Turning off the stove, I brought him into the family room, where we sat down. He then explained what had happened.

He and his friend were side by side, sitting with their dirt bikes parked, looking up at a very steep hill, and his friend told him he wanted to show him something that he had done once before. Michael watched his friend ride up the big hill, make a quick turn at the top, and then descend the hill, pulling up beside him. Then Michael, never having ridden up this hill before, gave it extra acceleration, since it was so steep. Approaching the top, he flew past what appeared to have been the path of a sharp turn. Suddenly, the ground disappeared below him. What he had perceived as a "steep hill" was actually the back side of a stone quarry, with an approximately 35-foot drop.

Flying through mid-air, Michael said, his first thought was, "I'm dead." Then he told me he felt God's presence—right there in the air—and he began thanking God. He landed by a big rock. Lying there on the ground, he realized he felt no pain. None.

His friend arrived shortly thereafter, having ridden around to the road at the entry of the quarry. Seeing Michael sitting there, he told him he thought he'd be dead. Yet, there sat Michael, awed, completely all right. (Interestingly, aside from a broken front fender even his dirt bike was saved, as it had come down into the branches of a tree that was growing sideways out of the quarry wall.)

During supper that night we were quiet—and grateful. Afterward, however, a startling thought tried to attack me. The thought was that he could have died. Sensing Michael was thinking the same thing, I went upstairs to check on him. It was then he had found a huge dark bruise on his side. I called a Christian Science practitioner to share with her what had happened, really just to express our profound gratitude. However, when I voiced the thought that he could have died, she emphatically said, "Oh no, he couldn't! He could never be separated from God, because God is his life!" This broke the spell that thought had on me. And right then and there the bruise began to fade before our eyes. It just disappeared.

This proof of God's presence and power continues to be one of my nearest and dearest treasures.

GAIL BERNARD
KINGSTON, NEW YORK, US

I am the son mentioned in this testimony. Today I am 37 years old. My mother and I always have wanted to share this healing, which happened to me over 20 years ago. I will never forget that day, and I am so thankful to have had God's presence there with me, on that day, and every day.

MICHAEL BERNARD
LARGO, FLORIDA, US

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Testimony of Healing
HIP PROBLEMS HEALED
July 26, 2010
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