One day, while I was at the beauty shop, waiting for my hair to dry under four sets of high-intensity lights, I suddenly smelled smoke. As I looked across the room at my reflection in the wall of mirrors, I saw smoke billowing from my head. At that very moment, the shop came alive with screams from frantic patrons, who were astonished at the alarming picture.

Ever so quickly the hairdresser was at my side. Moving me with great haste to the shampoo basin, he extinguished the smoldering mess at the top of my head. What a horrible picture I presented! He showed me a handful of burned, matted hair that he had brushed away while running water over my head. The burns on my head were painful. It was recommended that I go at once for medical treatment.

First, I quieted my own fear. Silently I affirmed that in reality I was God’s child and in His perfect care. Then I prayerfully refuted the fear of those around me, who continued to express much concern. Suddenly, in the midst of all the clamor, a quiet healing thought came to me about the three Hebrew men who were thrown into the fiery furnace. After the experience they rejoiced that they had escaped without “an hair of their head singed” (Daniel). I felt that wonderful protection was what I needed to prove.

I began rejoicing that right where destruction seemed to be, the Christ was present, protecting, uplifting, healing. I knew that in my true nature as an idea of God, I was exempt from imposition or penalty. I claimed my innocency. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy states: “Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”

And the result? When my hairdresser examined my hair again, there was no longer evidence that my scalp had been burned. No one could account for the phenomenon—they had all seen the fire and the distress, and yet I was now perfectly fine.

This is the effect I have come to expect from all Christian Science treatment, yet the majesty of this experience touched me deeply. I continue to be grateful for the helpful and sweet lesson I learned, and for seeing proof that God is always in control of my life.