My hope is to share in a meaningful way some of my deep feelings of gratitude not only for the Christian Science movement but also for the overflowing love expressed by those demonstrating Christian Science.
I am very fortunate to have been raised in a loving Christian Science family and to have attended Christian Science Sunday School. However, like many young ambitious persons entering college, I felt the need to go out and prove my own way in the world. I stayed away from any labels being placed on me. I always had great respect for Christian Science and gratitude for its teachings, but I did not call myself a Christian Scientist nor continue my study of Science. I never forgot my foundation, which was based on Christ Jesus' teachings and healings and the works of Mrs. Eddy, but I failed to build on it.
On the few occasions when I had a real challenge, I did turn to the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, and was healed; but then the books would go back on the shelf. Now I realize that I was on a roller coaster ride, always vulnerable to rolling down another hill.
At one point an inharmonious work situation persisted for months, and I seemed to be the punching bag, the victim. Humanly I tried to right the situation, and I thought time would heal the conflict. Time did not, and I seemed to be falling into deeper despair and depression. I decided I couldn't ignore the trouble; I wanted to heal it through Christian Science. I began to work to express strength and other spiritual qualities derived from God. I saw that I needed to pray and change my own thinking, not the thoughts of those around me.
I ended up leaving the company harmoniously after having regained my sense of strength and worth. However, I was not fully recognizing myself as in truth the perfect child of God.
Sometime later I experienced tremendous pain in my back. My parents lovingly suggested that I turn to Christian Science for help. I knew I needed to take a step toward embracing Christian Science. I studied "the scientific statement of being" from Science and Health and really pored over the textbook, looking for healing truths and wanting to understand and demonstrate Science. I clung to these words from Science and Health: "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts." The healing of my back came, and it helped to reinforce my foundation in Christian Science. However, I did not continue my study of Christian Science at that time.
Several weeks later the roller coaster took another dip as anxiety over employment and money tried to take hold. I battled the lack of direction and lack of supply. In real humility I turned to a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer, like a lost sheep wanting guidance. The strength and love she expressed were very supportive. I knew then I needed to take action and "be" a Christian Scientist, not just be someone "raised" in Science. I needed to trust in God and work to express His goodness and abundance.
I continued to pray and began to understand the security that lies in letting God direct me, rather than trying to direct myself. I trusted Mrs. Eddy's words "Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger. The more difficult seems the material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith and the purer our love."
The benefits that unfolded and continue to unfold could not have been better laid out by me or any other person. My life and financial situation stabilized. My continuing study and practice of Christian Science have been such a wonderful joy and a real help to me and those around me. In The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, by Mrs. Eddy the truth is expressed so beautifully: "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee. Therefore despair not nor murmur, for that which seeketh to save, to heal, and to deliver, will guide thee, if thou seekest this guidance."
I realize now that I don't need to experience every pain in the world and struggle to find my own way. The way is laid out before me; I simply have to open my eyes to it and follow through my own demonstrations of the truths of Christian Science.
Los Angeles, California
