About 20 years ago I headed off to college as a young adult, very happy to be starting this new adventure in my life. I was grateful to be attending a small school where all of the students and faculty were Christian Scientists. But I also started out the year unsure of which direction I wanted to take in terms of a career. I really didn’t have a particular interest, or any idea what to major in. I often turned to a loved poem by Mary Baker Eddy titled “ ‘Feed My Sheep,’ ” which begins:
Shepherd, show me how to go
O’er the hillside steep,
How to gather, how to sow,—
How to feed Thy sheep; (Poems, p. 14)
Little did I know that within a few weeks I would have my answer on “how to go,” and find my direction.
After about three or four weeks into the my first quarter, a friend and I decided to take a bicycle ride along a beautiful stretch of scenic highway that runs along the Mississippi River. We were headed to one of the nearby towns, really without much purpose except to enjoy the ride and the weather. As we were just entering the town, there was a grain mill on the side of the road with loose gravel nearby. My friend rode through it without a hitch, but my bicycle slid, and I fell very hard on my side. I was pretty shaken, but with my friend’s help we were able to make it to a nearby visitors’ center, where we called the school to get a ride back.
A Christian Science nurse on duty at the college was able to pick me up, and while we waited for her, I was also able to contact a local Christian Science practitioner for treatment through prayer. As I spoke with the practitioner, he told me not to think of my body as my true self—my true spiritual being is my identity as a child of God. It reminded me of a verse written by St. Paul in the New Testament of the Bible: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8). This helped to calm my thinking and focus on God’s loving care.
When the Christian Science nurse arrived, I felt immediately enveloped by tender care. She helped me get in the van and spoke so lovingly to me. All I could think was, “How can I be like this woman? How can I learn to express divine Love as clearly as she does?”
We arrived back at school, and she took me to the Christian Science nursing facility, where she cleaned and bandaged the wound, and then showed me to a room, where I could rest, read, and pray. Because I was still feeling some pain, I decided to spend the night and was cared for by another one of the Christian Science nurses, who was just as loving.
The next morning I felt much better, so I left to go on with my regular activities, returning to the nursing facility for another day or two just to have bandages redressed. During this time I met a third Christian Science nurse, who also expressed such love and compassion.
My side had healed completely within about three days, but my eagerness to learn more about Christian Science nursing increased. I became a frequent visitor at the campus facility, just stopping by to say “hi” and have a cookie or two, while also asking questions about becoming a Christian Science nurse.
I wanted to learn more about how Christian Science nurses demonstrate in practical ways divine Love’s tender care for each person. So a few summers later, before the beginning of my senior year in college, I took a training course to become a Christian Science nurse’s aide. It was a joyous time full of learning and loving.
During the school break I worked at a Christian Science nursing facility in Florida, then during the school year I was able to work for one in the St. Louis area a few evenings a week. I truly enjoyed cherishing each patient as a child of God, while I helped to take care of their practical needs.
The care shown to me by that Christian Science nurse, and the wonderful healing I experienced after the fall from my bike, were pivotal in setting me on my own path toward being a healer. Within five years I became a Christian Science nurse. Today as I continue this work I am always buoyed up by the fact that God protects and guides each of His children; my job is simply to reflect His love. As a Christian Science practitioner friend always used to remind me, we catch the light of spiritual healing, reflecting it to others.
A beloved hymn explains my feelings well:
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
(Frances R. Havergal, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 324, adapt., © CSBD)
I am endlessly and ceaselessly praising God for setting me on this wonderful healing path of caring for others.
