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Guy Gilbert is a French Catholic priest who is well known for his commitment to underprivileged populations. He’s a student of the Bible and said something a few years ago that touched me: “Live in such a way that your way of living causes people to think it is impossible for God not to exist.

About a year ago, 19 Christian Scientists who had never met before traveled abroad together. We had a communication app we used during the trip to help our group leader keep in touch if there was a change in the day’s schedule.

Late one Saturday night, sitting alone at my desk, I was dreading what I’d agreed to do the next morning—substitute teach a class of teenagers at a Christian Science Sunday School.   I’d done many tough things in life, including covering civil wars as The Christian Science Monitor ’s Africa correspondent and giving speeches to large audiences.

When challenges persist, we should remember that God is consistently the only power—the only cause and effect.

I’ve always linked gratitude to the idea of praising God. In the Bible, the book of Psalms overflows with powerful expressions of glorifying God, divine Love.

Throughout the Bible God promises that we will know Him, and I find that the practice of Christian Science fulfills this promise. The teachings of Christian Science—the divine laws of God that Christ Jesus demonstrated in his healing mission—awaken us to God’s promises of present perfection and the possibility of seeing these promises made manifest in our daily experience.

The Mother Church regularly receives thoughtful questions from individuals around the world wanting to learn more about Christian Science as part of their own spiritual journey. Some are simple inquiries, while others afford the opportunity for deeper thought and prayer.

The nature of God as pure goodness is naturally reflected in each of us; and Christ, God’s message to mankind, makes us aware of our Godlike identity—the reflection of God, divine Love itself. Christly thoughts come to our immediate rescue to pull us out of any discordant or threatening situation.

We’d known for months that our elder son and his wife, who was pregnant with our first grandchild, were moving to Australia. I thought I was prepared for this, but two days before they left, I was in deep mourning because it felt like another loss in a series of losses after my parents and several dear friends had passed on in recent years.

I awoke dreading the day. I was facing responsibilities that I wasn’t looking forward to.