Spiritual Journey
One night about 15 years ago, I was driving down a very dark, quiet, and lonely road when the thought came to me that I was made in the image and likeness of God. I knew nothing about Christian Science at that time.
My first exposure to Christian Science was in January 2000. I lived just a few blocks from a Christian Science church in downtown Las Vegas, and upon my initial visit to the church, I was still drinking alcohol, smoking cigars, pipes, and cigarettes, in addition to gambling.
In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Trials are proofs of God’s care” ( p. 66 ).
I was born into a devout Christian family. When I was a child, my parents brought me to a Protestant church Sunday School, where I learned about the Bible, sang religious songs, and was taught to love all of God’s creatures.
When an earthquake occurs, whole buildings can be shaken off of their foundations and collapse. So, it also seems we can be shaken when disaster touches our lives and rocks us to the very core.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. — First Peter 5:6, 7 It is generally held in the practice of Christian Science healing that a right understanding of man’s relationship to God, the application of specific spiritual truths to the circumstance at hand, and selfless love for God and man, heal all inharmonious conditions.
I HAD GROWN UP as a Roman Catholic, but during my college years, I prayed to be shown a system that could help me heal just as Jesus did. At an open forum in college one day, I asked a clergyman why he and other clergymen didn't heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, and raise the dead as Jesus commanded his followers? Some of the students at the gathering were pleased with the question and wanted to hear the answer.
MY INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE came about this way: My husband and I had both gone to a Sunday School as children, and had been churchgoers as teenagers, but as soon as we became adults we stopped attending church. We preferred to sleep in and then have brunch late Sunday mornings.
AS A YOUNG ADULT , I often asked myself if I could live without being a church member or attending church services. I wondered if it was enough to simply rely on my own study or attend a lecture or visit a Christian Science Reading Room when I felt inspired or had a need.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MET ME where I was in life at a time when I most needed direction. At eighteen, after years of emotional turmoil and feeling unloved, I left home and found myself alone in Philadelphia searching for answers.