By Denise Fast
As a young woman, I had a number of challenges and difficulties. The hurt I had experienced in life made my heart literally feel cold. I was afraid it would never become warm again.
To escape the pain, I lived in a whirlwind of activity. As an ECKist, I knew the Spiritual Exercises of ECK would help me, but I took little time to practice them. I just couldn’t seem to slow down.
One morning, I got just the break I needed.
That day, I had decided to go roller skating. As I crossed the dirt parking lot to get to the skating area, I slipped. It felt as if an invisible force had pushed both feet out from under me. My left foot twisted to the right, severely fracturing both the tibia and fibula.
I ended up in the hospital for eight days, where I was put in a full leg cast; my bones held together with four pins. The doctors told me I needed to stay in this cast for almost a year if I wanted to regain full mobility of my leg.
All of a sudden, my life slowed to a crawl. I was unable to drive and needed a wheelchair to get around. I spent most of the time sitting on the couch.
With so much free time, I was finally able to read more books on the ECK teachings. I also had plenty of time to do my daily spiritual exercises.
My life began to change. I gave up bad habits such as drinking coffee and eating sugar; I discovered alternate methods of healing; and I experienced the love of my friends who helped me through this difficult time. All these things improved the quality of my life.
Finally the doctor removed the pins, and I got a new cast just below the knee. I was so happy. Now I had more freedom to get around. I could even drive a car.
But within a short time, I shifted back into my old habit of rushing around. I also occasionally skipped my spiritual exercises. Soon, some of the gifts of my new lifestyle began to drift away.
When I went back to the doctor for a routine checkup, he took an X-ray of my leg. As he looked over the image, he grew concerned.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The healing process has stopped,” he replied. Now I was concerned.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He explained that one of my bones was not knitting together. He told me that without further surgery and another two and a half months in a cast, the bone would never heal properly.
I couldn’t accept his diagnosis. I went to three other orthopedic surgeons, but they all gave me the same answer: I needed surgery and a new cast. Each of them told me it was physically impossible for my leg to heal otherwise.
I didn’t want the surgery. I knew there was a spiritual message within this problem. I had slipped back into old habits that were harming me. I needed to slow down and return to the discipline of practicing my spiritual exercises every day.
I took my X-ray home and pinned it up on the wall. I could see that where there was bone, the image was white. Where bone was missing, it was dark.
I consciously decided to turn this situation over to the ECK and the Mᴀʜᴀɴᴛᴀ. Every morning and every night, I chanted HU for twenty minutes, surrendering myself to the ECK, the Holy Spirit. Inwardly, I’d imagine the Light and Sound flowing through me and filling my body, especially my leg, with God’s love.
Over time, I realized I had hated my leg for causing me so much pain. The more I practiced surrendering myself to God by singing HU twice each day, the more love I felt for myself, including my leg.
I did this for two and a half months, the same amount of time I would have needed to rest after the surgery. Then I returned to the doctor and asked him to take another X-ray.
He was skeptical and said he was sure there would be no change. But I insisted and offered to pay for it.
He took the X-ray and put it up on the light box for viewing. Assuming it would show what he believed was true, he turned to me and asked, “Are you satisfied now?” But when he turned back to look at the image, he fell silent. Then he walked out of the room.
A minute later, he returned with two other orthopedic surgeons. All three of them stared at the X-ray in silence. Then my doctor looked at me.
“It’s an absolute miracle,” he said. “It’s perfectly healed. What did you do?”
I told him about my spiritual exercises. I knew that by surrendering myself to the ECK and the Holy Spirit and singing HU, I had opened the way for a miracle to occur. He thanked me and said he’d learned an important lesson from my experience. Thirty years have now passed, and my leg has never bothered me one bit. It was completely healed.
But the greatest miracle was that by the time my leg had mended, so had my heart. Regular practice of the Spiritual Exercises of ECK healed me and made me whole. Now I was able to open up to love again. That was the best gift of all.