Saved from underwater danger

When I was in college, I wanted to have a practical and conscious understanding of God’s presence in my life. One of the ways I developed this conscious presence was by listening, moment by moment, to discern what God would have me do. This practice reduced the “noise of life” and gave me a calm confidence that I was on a sound track. I felt secure in listening and then following the direction I would receive.

During this time, I was studying to be a marine engineer, which meant I went on yearly training cruises with other maritime cadets. Our ship had a pool, and during free time we loved to engage in “Jungle Water Polo” (admittedly a dangerous version of water polo, with no rules). Because I had an ability to hold my breath for a long time, my role was to clear a path to the goal by pulling opponents down to the bottom of the pool.

During one of these sessions, I’d been underwater for several minutes and was in dire need of a breath of air. I started to rise to the surface for much needed oxygen, but just as I was reaching the surface, a cadet jumped into the pool and landed square on my head, knocking the air out of my lungs and paralyzing me. Sinking to the bottom of the pool, I was unable to move, and for whatever reason, the other cadets didn’t notice. I knew that I had to force myself not to gasp for air while I was under the water, but that was as far as human logic got me. As I lay there alone, unable to move and on the verge of passing out, I instinctively reached out to God for what my next move would be.

At that instant, the calm of God’s presence came over me, displacing the impulse to breathe. Here I was on the ship, 1,500 miles from any shore—no parent, Sunday School teacher, or lifeguard to help, and yet God was still with me. I felt calm. I was not aware of my heart beating, but I was conscious and knew God was with me, sustaining me right there at the bottom of the pool.

While I was lying in the quiet of God’s presence, the clear instruction to move my shoulders came to me. This seemed impossible, given the clear evidence that I was paralyzed, but I knew I should follow God’s command. To my surprise, my shoulders moved without complaint, and my body began to rise. It seemed to take forever to get to the top, but God was with me, so any anxiety was replaced with a calm trust of His care. As I broke the surface, my breathing was normal, as though I had never been underwater. With that came another directive from God to tell the others not to touch me. They respected my wishes as my shoulders propelled me across the pool to the ladder.

At this point, my arms were still limp and I had no feeling in my legs, so I was not sure how I would get out of the pool. But just when I reached the ladder, the movement in my legs and arms was restored.

As I started up the ladder, I realized there was a crowd gathered and I was the center of attention. Realizing what had happened, the other cadets were concerned about my well-being. But the message came to move through the gathering and away from the attention and go to my cabin. As I did this, the crowd let me through and refrained from commenting on any consequences or predictions about possible effects from having been trapped underwater. Soon I actually saw that the cadets’ focus on me was redirected, and I was grateful there wasn’t any alarm that would distract from the prayer I was continuing with.

Back in my cabin, I thought of the concept of “Immanuel,” or “God with us.” Mary Baker Eddy expressed my sense of this in a very effective way in Science and Health, where she wrote of “‘God with us,’—a divine influence ever present in human consciousness … ” (Science and Health, p. xi).

One of the truths of life I have learned in Christian Science is that we express what we are conscious of. If we hold ourselves in the “kingdom of heaven,” or the consciousness of God’s harmony and presence in our lives, the specific spiritual ideas we need to address a particular situation will come to us, even if we’re not outwardly cognizant of them. As I finished praying in my cabin, I was able to continue my duties on the ship with complete freedom.

As a student of Christian Science, I’ve found that Mary Baker Eddy’s teachings have helped me rise from a materially based sense of things to a spiritually based sense of life. This in turn shows me that God is with me at all times and in all places and that I’m actually spiritual in nature, not material. God makes Himself known to us. We then feel this grace, and we can see unquestionable proof of His presence. This is Immanuel!

Gardner Fogg | Lake Saint Louis, Missouri, US