I grew up in a Christian Science family, where my brother and sister and I learned that God was “a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1), and that the teachings of Christ Jesus show us the meaning of God and how He loves us. We studied the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, and everything I learned from her also guided me deep into the Bible, where again, I learned that I was loved as a child of God.
Finding the security of a God who loves me and stays close to me, regardless of what I think of my human capacity to deserve it, has helped me through trying times. I’ll share two of them here. One was the time I found my infant daughter with a fever in the middle of the night. Her crying frightened me at first, so I told her we were going to get very close to God. We needed to hear what God was saying. I quieted myself and remember telling my baby that I loved her more than she could imagine.
Then it dawned on me that God, our divine Father-Mother, was loving both of us more than either of us could imagine. I cried softly, thanking God for loving this little, innocent child unconditionally and with wisdom and power. I felt so embraced; I remember feeling that the whole room was filled with the presence of Love. My little daughter calmed down also. How beautiful it was to become conscious of God’s closeness. The baby fell asleep and the fever abated. I sang to her softly, just wanting to stay in that holy place. When I put her back in her crib, she slept till morning. She awoke cooing and had no further trouble.
