When I was seven, my grandmother gave me a tiny leather-bound Bible. How I treasured this book! I loved being the owner of my very own Bible. I also deeply appreciated the fact that Grandma, whose family never showed interest in spiritual things, somehow knew that I would value such a gift. I’ve always figured that an angel, a thought from God, played a part in guiding her to make that choice.
Over the next few years, my siblings and I attended a Protestant Sunday School. My mother sent us there because she felt that we had a right to know about God and to make up our own minds about matters of faith. Although I enjoyed attending this Sunday School, very little of the teaching resonated with me. I remember being particularly disheartened when we were asked to color in a picture of a human-like devil, complete with horns and trident. This cannot be real, I thought!
Meanwhile, my mother was on her own search for a church or system of religion that satisfied her longing to know God and the Bible better. She did this research mainly through books borrowed from the local library, where she eventually happened upon Dr. Lyman Powell’s Mary Baker Eddy: A Life Size Portrait. Mum had heard of Christian Science before, and now felt this was what she had been searching for. We all set off for the Christian Science church in Brisbane, where all four children were enrolled in the Sunday School. I was ten years old.
